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FROCEXSDZIVaS 



OF THE 



State Rights Celebration, 

AT 

CHARLESTOX, S. C. 

July l5f, 1830. 

CONTAINING THE SrEECHES OF THE 

Hon. Wm . Drayton & Hon. R. Y. Hayne, 

}Vho tvere the invited Guests; also of 

LANGDON CHEVES, JAMES' HAMILTON, Jr. 
and ROBERT J. TURNBULL, Esqrs. 

f And the Remarks of His Honor the 



i 



k)^ Intendant, H. L. PINCKNEY, to which is added the 

VOLUNTEER TOASTS 



Given on the occasion. 



CHARLESTON; 

PRINTED BY J. E. MILLER, 
No. 4 Broad-street. 

1830. 






PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

Great State Rights Celehration. 

On Thursday July 1st, agreeably to previous ar- 
rangements, a Public Dinner was given at the City 
Hall by Friends of the Southern States, to the 
Honorable ROBERT Y. UAYNE, one of the Sena- 
tors in Congress from this State, and to the Honor- 
able WILLIAM DRAYTON, the Representative in 
Congress of Charleston District. At 3 o'clock, P. 
M. the subscribers to the Dinner assembled m the 
City Square, from which, at a little after 4, they mo- 
ved in procession, preceded by a fine Band of Mu- 
' sic, through Chalmers and Meeting streets, to the 
City Hall, where they sat down to an elegant enter- 
tainment provided for the occasion. The assembly 
was not only exceedingly numerous, but it was as 
much distinguished by respectability as by num- 
bers, embracing, as it did, {we will not say, all— be- 
cause we are not of that party which claims all the 
talent, eloquence, and respectability of the city,) but 
certainly a larger portion of each than was ever con- 
gregated or displayed on \ny similar occasion in this 
city. Of this, the details which follow will furnish 
abundant and conclusive evidence. Very nearly six 
hundred individuals subscribed. Not only was the 
large and spacious Hall literally crowded, but (what 
wat never known to have .been done before,) ta- 
bles, equally crowded, -ware arranged around the 
Gallery, and even spread in one of the Rooms usually 
occupied by the Public Boards of the City. The as- 
semblage, numerous as it was. would have been con- 
siderably augmented, iiad not the excessive heat of 



/^v 



.■'/f 



s 

the day, and the impossibility of procuring accom- 
modation, deterred many from attending who had 
purchased Tickets, and who were with the company 
in spirit and in heart. 

The Hall was splendidly and judiciously arrang- 
ed for the occasion. The tables were so disposed as 
to place the two guests nearly in the centre of the 
room, a position which enabled the immense compa- 
ny assembled, to hear distinctly the sentiments those 
gentlemen uttered. Six richly adorned canopies, 
composed of national banners interwoven with 
wreaths of evergreen, were conspicuous in different 
parts of the room, above the seats of the various offi- 
cers. On the spire of the principal canopy, under 
which were the presiding officer and the two guests 
was perched an Eagle with expanded wings, from 
the beak of which hung a transparency, having on it 
in large letters, ** State Rights." This was at the 
North of the room. At the East, South and West 
were other transparencies of the same size, display- 
ing the motto of one of the gentlemen to whom the 
festival was given, "Liberty — the Constitution — 
Union." 

Twelve Corinthian pillars were erected round the 
room, gracefully festooned with variegated flowers • 
and branches. Portraits of several distinguished 
citizens of the State and Country adorned the walls. 
Amongst the most conspicuous we recognized those 
of Washington, Jackson, Gen. C. C. and Gen. Tho- 
mas Pmckney, John C. Calhoun, Henry Laurens, 
Benjamin Franklin, John Randolph of Virginia, and 
OUR OWN Moultrie, around whose intrepid brow 
twined gracefully the Palmetto, the emblem of his 
valor, and the just pride of our State. In the cen- 
tre window of the second story of the Hall, was pla- 
ced a brilliant and well executed transparency 10 
feet in height, exhibiting a Figure of Liberty, sur- 
rounded by a rising- child. The figure is supposed 



to see the cloud increasing, which threatens to con- 
ceal the brightness of her countenance, and to de- 
stroy for ever the glories of her reign on earth, but 
she leans with confidence on South- Carolina, the 
Arms of which State are at her side, displaying in 
glowing characters her well known motto, 

ANIMIS OPIBUSQUE PARATL 

The whole arrangements reflect much honor on 
the patriotic spirit that designed them, and entitle 
him to the warmest thanks of the State Right party 
in the city. 

HENRY L. PINCKNEY, (Intendant of the City,) 
presided at the Dinner, assisted by James Hamil- 
ton, jun., Henry Deas, Langdon Cheves, John 
Gadsden, Robert J. Turnbull, and Jacob F. 
MiNTZiNG, Esquires, as Vice Presidents. 

After the cloth was removed, the following 
TOASTS were announced, and drank by the com- 
pany with indescribable enthusiasm : — 

1. The Union — The elements of its durability are 
to be found in its performing honestly, faithfully, and 
justly the beneficent purposes for which it was 
formed. [3 cheers. 

2. Washington — We honor his memory too much 
to prostitute the authority of his name, by employ- 
ing it as the sanction of sectional injustice and ra- 
pacity. 

3. The Memory of Thomas Jefferson— The Declar- 
ation of Independence in 1776 — His Kentucky Re- 
solutions in 1798 — a bright commentary on a glori- 
ous text. [6 cheers. 

4. The American Revolution and its offspring the 
American Constitution — Achieved and formed by 
thirteen sovereign States ; they did not throw away 
the blessings of the former by authorizing an unlim- 
ited government under the latter. fB cheers. 

5. Andrew Jackson — Honor and gratitude to his 
name — He has repulsed the invaders of the Consti- 
tution.— If the States are true to themselves, a tri- 
umphant victory awaits us, [9 cheers. 

6. William Drayton — Able, faithful and eloquent. 
South Carolina cherishes him as a son disciplined 
in her best schools of chivalry and honor— With de- 



voted firmness he has pursued the dictates of his 
conscience in opposition to the request of a respect- 
ed portion of his constituents — We honor him for his 
independence. 

When the long and deafening applause with which 
this Toast was received had subsided, Col. Dray- 
ton rose and addressed the company as follows: — 

Felloio- Citizens. — Accept my grateful thanks for 
the approbation which you have been pleased to ex- 
press of my public conduct, and of the motives by 
which it has been directed. At all times I earnestly 
seek to learn the sentiments of my constituents.-— 
They are entitled to all the services which I can 
render them ; and to require, as a general rule, that 
in rendering those services, I should conform to their 
wishes ; but, wh never, after mature deliberation, I 
have arrived at the conclusion, that I cannot comply 
with them without violating my official oath, or the 
principles of moral right ; whenever the question 
arises between my conscience and the will of my 
constituents, that question must be solved by my du- 
ty to my God. This opinion I have so frequently 
uttered, that I have every reason to believe, that a 
majority of those whom 1 represent, are acquainted 
with it. Should I be mistaken, I gladly avail myself 
of this occasion to declare it. Political errors I may 
often have committed. With the concealment of my 
political principles, no one can, justly, charge me. 

The topics most interesting to South Carolina, to 
which I have lately given my attention in Con- 
gress, are the Tariff, and what are termed " Inter- 
nal Improvements."^' It being well known, that I 
consider the law imposing duties upon imports for 
the exclusive benefit of the domestic manufacturer, 
to be unconstitutional and deeply injurious to the 
great mass of the eommuiuty ; and that I regard 
" Internal Improvements" as they have long been 
acted upon, to be attended with a wasteful and rui- 
nous expenditure of the public treasure for private 
purposes, and to be at variance with the spirit of the 
federal compact/I shall not now enter into a dis- 
russion of these subjects, but confine myself to a 
brief examination of the consequences which have 
flowed from them. An excitement growing out of 
these subjects, more especially out of the first of 
them, has pervaded all parts of our State, and has 
made so profound an impression upon the public 
mind, as almost to absorb every other political con- 



sideration. Our citizens, suffering under an Act 
which a great majority of them believe to be uncon- 
stitutional, have naturally been led to deliberult 
upon the steps which ought to be taken, under cir- 
cumstances so critical and momentous. Of the ex- 
t)edients proposed, that which seems, most general- 
y, to be relied upon, is, through the medium of 
the Legislature, or of a convention chosen by 
the people, to nullify the obnoxious law, or in oth- 
er words, to declare it to be unconstitutional, 
and to absolve our citizens from obedience to it, 
unless a contrary decision should be pronounced 
by three-fourths of the Legislatures of the several 
States, or by convention of the people, in the same 
number of the States. Those who recommend this 
course are sanguine in their expectations of its effi- 
cacy. They assert that a sovereign State, under its j 
reserved rights, can constitutionally, resort to it, and j 
that by no other means can the Union be preserved. J 
If by any process of reasoning, of which I am capa-» 
ble : if by any lights which I could derive from in- 
tellects far superior to mine, 1 could accord in these 
views and inferences, I should rejoice to do so ; for 
no one condemns more than myself, the princi- 
ple of the existing Tariff, or more deprecates its 
baneful effects. Nevertheless, after anxious and 
painful medilation, directed by every motive which 
ought to influence a lover of his country, and of his 
country's reputation and prosperity, 1 cannot per- 
ceive any substantial distinction between the abro- 
gation of a law of Congressjby a State, & the separa- 
tion of that State, fron; tiie Union. When an Act of 
Congress has been passed, in its customary forms, 
until repealed by the body enacting it, or decided 
to be invalid by the Federal Judiciary, it becomes 
the law of the land. The President of the United 
States is compelled, by his oath of office, to enforce 
it, unless, perhaps, he should be satisfied of its un- 
constitutionality, which is not the opinion of Presi- 
dent Jackson, as to the Tariff of 18-28. Should then 
the President, or the mandate of the Federal Court, 
direct it to be carried into execution, it could not be 
resisted by us, excepting upon the ground, that our 
State had withdrawn from the federation, or by the 
exercise offeree. The ftrst alternative would be,'ipso 
facto, a severance of this State from the Union. — 
The second, would be an appeal to arms, the ulti- 
ma ratio reipublicse. 



Let me not be misconceived. I am not the advo- 
cate of passive obedience and nun-resistance. In 
tlie ordinary administration of atiajrs, tiie assertion 
of tbe right of the mnjnriiy to bind the people, is a 
mere truism; but a i^jajority, as well a« a minority 
may be a faction; and where the legislature is ac- 
cused of usurpation, or corruption, or oppression, to 
contend that the will of a prevailing majority should 
alone be evidence of the legality of their proceedings, 
would render hopeless all possibility of relief. A 
crisis might arise, when the bonds of the union ought 
to be bi-oken. The right of the iState to secede from 
the Union, I, unqualinedly, concede; but so long as 
she belongs to it, if she be not bound by its laws, the 
monstrous anomalies would exist, of a government 
whose acts were not obligatory upon its citizens; 
and of a State constituting one of the members of 
the Union, whilst denying the authority of its laws. 

I am not unaware of the conviction of many, that 
the consequences anticipated by me, would not fol- 
low from a nullification of the tarifi-act, in the mode 
which has been mentioned — that, on the contrary, 
the repeal of the law would be insured by so vigo- 
rous a resolution. To those who are under this con- 
viction, I would submit, that it is founded upon the 
supposed Aveakness of their opponents — a position 
as false and dangerous in politics as it is in war, and 
utterly unworthy of the high-minded freemen of 
South-Carolina. Unless a majority of the people of 
the United States were persuaded, that their inte- 
rests were advanced by the mis-called "American 
System," it would never have been imposed upon us 
by successive Congresses, from 1816 to 1830. Is it 
probable, that this majority, stimulated by the lust 
of avarice, and sustained by the arm of power, would 
yield to the legislation, or to the menaces of a single " 
State? 

It might be asked of me, whether I would recom- 
mend silence and inactivity amidst the wrongs with 
which we are afflicted. My answer is — l\o. What 
can, constitutionally, be done bj'- the legislature, 
ought to be done by it. Through Congress, and the 
Press, and communications with those States whose 
cause is common with ours, every possible exertion 
should be made, to dispel the delusion, under which 
the people labour, as to the true character of an un- 
constitutional law, which fetters our industry, crip- 
ples our commerce, and taxes the many for the be- 
nefit of the few. All are injured by it, excepting 



8 

the manufacturers ; and although they, when com- 
bined, can carry the majority with them, yet recent 
events strongly indicate, that by attacking the Ta- 
riff, in detail, we may bring it back to those princi- 
ples from which it ought never to have departed. 

Should the efforts which I have suggested, fail of 
success — should the law we complain of, remain un- 
rej)ealed upon our statute-book — we should then en- 
quire, whether a recurrence to the remedy which I 
have adverted to, would not be worse than the mala- 
dy which it professes to cure — whether its certain 
consequence would not be disunion — whether dis- 
union would not be fraught with more disastrous re- 
sults than the provisions of the act— whether it 
would not create a division in our own State, pro- 
ducing that direst of national calamities— civil war. 
After pondering dispassionately and profoundly upon 
these questions, we are bound by every social and 
moral duty, to select the least of the evils pre- 
sented to us. For my own part, I feel no hesitation 
in avowing, that I should regard the separation of 
South-Carolina from the Union, as incalculably more 
to be deplored, than the existence of the law which 
we condemn. 

I have thus, fellow-citizens, communicated to you 
my sentiments upon an all-engrossing subject. When 
I look around me and see many to whom J am united 
by the ties of blood — many who are my valued per- 
sonal friends— and some, with whom I have acted, 
harmoniously, in political struggles, I am unable to 
convey an adequate idea, in words, of the pain which 
I feel, in expressing opinions wl)ich, I believe, to be 
at variance with theirs. 1 have, nevertheless, done 
this vi'/lence to myself, from the conviction, that in 
times of public excitement,the opinions of no citizen 
should be concealed ; and because my constituents 
iiave the right to know my thoughts, in order that 
they may determine v/het'ier I am worthy to repre- 
sent them. I most willingly submit myself to their 
verdict, confident, and I trust not vainly so, that 
they will give me credit for having fully, candidly, 
and fearlessly, spoken from the dictates of my heart. 

Mr. President, the colours floating around these 
walls, have suggested to me a toast, which I beg 
leave to offer, instead of the one which I had prepa- 
red for this meeting. 

" May our star-spangled banner, so often, trium- 
phantly, unfurled upon the ocean and the land, ever 
wave, with undiminished lustre, over free, sove- 
reign and united States." 



9 

7. Robert V. Hayne. — A vigilant and gallant sen- 
tinel on onr Watch Tower. — His brilliant and pow- 
erful defence of the constitution against licentious 
construction, and the South from unfounded slan- 
der, entitles him to our warmest gratitude and ap- 
plause. 

This Toast was also drauk with enthusiastic and 
long continued cheering — after which Gen. Hayne 
addressed the meeting to the following effect: — 

I know not, fellow-citizens, how adequately to 
express my deep sense of the honor which you 
have this day conferred upon me. When I look 
around and behold this vast assemblage, composed 
of native and adopted sons of Carolina — of whom 
our common mother may so well be proud— and re- 
flect, that this " goodly company," embracing so 
much of character and talent, of private worth and 
public virtue, have come together for the purpose 
of expressing their approbation of the public con- 
duct of my excellent and valued friend (Col. Dray- 
ton) and myself, I want words to convey to your 
hearts, the emotions which agitate my own. I have 
Hothing to offer you, gentlemen, but my poor thanks, 
with this assurance, that whatever may be the 
** changes and chances" of my future life, I shall 
ever fondly cherish a grateful recollection of your 
kindness, and will find in it, a strong incentive to 
the faithful discharge of my duties. 

Believe me, gentlemen, no Representative of 
South-Carolina has, of late, reposed upon " a bed 
of roses," and perhaps there never was a period in 
the history of our country, when the cordial " well 
done" of generous constituents, was more grateful 
to the hearts of their public servants, more necessary 
to sustain them in their cause, and to encourage 
them in *' holding fast to the faith." Condemned as 
they have been, to witness the failure of ail their 
efforts in defence of your rights and interests, and 
coming to you, not as the heralds of " glad tidii/gs," 
but as the messengers of defeat and disaster, this 
generous reception is in the very spirit that has made 
injmortal that Roman Senate, which decreed their 
highest honors to him who had stood by his country 
in the hour of her " utmost need," and who though 
vanquished, "had not despaired of the Republic." 
Such offerings, gentlemen, are indeed " doubly bless- 
ed, blessing him that gives and him that receives." 
And here, perhaps, I might stop. But when I re- 



Id 

jtfiemb'^r that in the Resolutions which ushered thh 
festival into public notice, it was declared to be a 
tribute by " the friends of State Rights, to the 
principles which have been promuljrated by the F>e- 

fislature of South-Carolina," and when I know that 
am chiefly indebted for the flattering sentiment 
which lias just been offered, to the humble parti 
have acted in support of those principles. I feel 
that I should disappoint your just expectations, if I 
passed entirely over a topic of such paramount in- 
terest and importance. 

What then, gentlemen, are the principles involv 
ed in this doctrine of " State Rights" ? They are 
the great fundamental principles of Constitutional 
Liberty for which our fathers fought and bled, and 
conquered — which were recognized, and (as we did 
fondly hope) firmly established by the adoption of 
the Constitution of the United States — and on the 
maintenance of which depend the peace, prosperity 
and safety of our beloved country. Our doctringS N,^ 
are (and I quote them from our political text book, . 
the Virginia Resolutions of 1798) that the several 
{States are "independent sovereignties" — that the 
Constitution of the United States is '* a compact to 
which the States are parties" — that as the Federal 
Government derives its existence, and all of its 
powers from that instrument, " its acts are no fur- 
ther valid than they are authorized by the grants 
enumerated in that compact " and, that in case of " a 
palpable, deliberate, and dangerous exercise of oth- 
er powers not granted by said compact, i^e States, 
who are parties thereto, have the right to interpose, 
for arresting the prf>gress of the evil, atid for main- 
taining within their respective limits, the authori- 
ties, rights, and liberties appertaining to them." 
The opponents of these doctrines contend that the 
Constitution was formed not by the States in their 
sovereign capacity, but by the peojjle C'>llectively — 
that the " National Government," being thus creat- 
ed by all the people, have a right to decide, (in the 
emphatic language of the great leader of their par- 
t}') " ultimately and conclusively as to the extent of 
their powers ," and hence results, as the basis of the 
wh:>le system, the duty of an absolute acquiescence 
on the part of the minority, in the declared will of 
the majority. It does appear to my mind " pass- 
ing strange," that any man should fail to perceive 
that according to these principles, the Government 
of these United States is one great consolidated, 



11 

jNational Government — having no practical limita- 
tion on its powers but the popular will, and that to 
talk of " State Rights" is the most ridiculous and 
unmeaning jargon ; it is something worse — it is the 
language of bitter sarcasm and solemn mockery. If 
"a sovereign and independent State^" has no right 
to judge of the violations of a compact into which 
she has entered — if, when " usurped powers" are 
exercisedover her citizens, she has no right, how- 
ever flagrant the usurpation, " to interpose to ar- 
rest the progress of the evil" — if the Federal Gov- 
ernment (the mere creature of the Constitution) 
may, with impunity disregard all its limitations, and 
the States are bound implicitly to submit, then, in- 
deed, I am yet to learn, in what " State Rights" 
consist. Do they consist in " the powers not grant- 
ed," or " expressly reserved" under the Constitu- 
tion ? The Federal government having the rightto 
decide, " ultimately and conclusively," on "these 
matters, will say to us, bi/ their practice, that all has 
been given, and none reserved — and if it be the 
daty of the States implicitly to submit, " State 
Rights may exist *^s an ahstraciion, in the minds of 
gentlemen, but they exist no where else, and for my 
own : ai't, I am utterly unable to appreciate the va- 
lue of a theoretical right which is to be held at the 
mercy of another, and for the enforcement of which 
there exists no remedy. According to this doctrine, 
the States have a right to exercise just so much pow- 
er (and no more,) as the Federal Government may 
tiunk proper to leave them, and Ave are presented 
with the strange anomaly of '"the creature elevated 
above its creator, the servants above their masters." 
If such be the true character of the Federal Go- 
vernment, the experiment of the security to be de- 
rived from written charters has already most signal- 
ly failed, and the people " on whom, in the provi- 
dence of God, has been cast the preservation of the 
great principle," have proved recreant to their 
trust, and have surrendered the last citadel of free- 
d^'m. I shall not stop to enquire in what department 
of the Federal Government this despotism is suppos- 
ed to ^xist. The idea that the Supreme Court is to 
he the safeguard of the reserved rights of the States, 
can delude those oniv. who close their ears to the 
acknowledged fact, that in most of the cases where 
usurped power hasbeeii exercised or is aj»prebend- 
ed, (euch for instance as the Tariff of protection, 
and the appropriations of money for Internal Im- 



12 

provements, Education, Charities, Colonization oir 
Emancipation) the question cannot even be brought 
before the Supreme Court according to the forms 
of the Constitution, and it is certainly in the power 
of Congress so to frame their laws and so to regulate 
their Courts as to prevent them from interposing to 
" arrest the progress of usurpation" in any case 
whatsoever. 

When we cast our eyes over the map of the Uni- 
ted States, and behold a territory of such vast ex- 
tent, inhabited by a people of such diversified pur- 
suits and interests, of habits and of feelings, can it be 
possible that the '' will of the majority" shall be 
practically adopted as the rule of Government for all 
of the parts, without its degenerating into the most 
odious and desolating tyranny. Look at the condi- 
tion of the Southern States, having the system of 
slavery so interwoven with their institutions that 
even to touch the subject is to involve them in ruin; 
and depending upon foreign markets for the sale of 
their valuable productions. Can it be believed, that 
the wise & patriotic men who represented the South 
in the Convention which framed the Constitution, 
would have consented in our behalf, to sign a bond 
by which it was to be submitted to a majority of the 
people, or what is more, a mtijority of their Repre- 
sentatives in Congress assembled, whether our in- 
stitutions should be preserved, and our pursuits of 
industry remain unchanged, or whether we might 
be deprived of both, under the operation of Acts of 
Congress, based upon vague notions of the "gener- 
al welfare ?" 

Gentlemen, in the presence of this respectable as- 
sembly, and in the face of my country, I declare my 
solemn convictiou; that the acknowledgementof the 
exclusive right of the Federal Government to deter- 
mine the limits of its owjipowers, amounts to a recog- 
nition of its absolute supremacy over the States and 
the people, and involves the sacrifice not only of 
our dearest rights and interests, but the very exist- 
ence ofthe Southern States ; and if, by the blessing 
of Heaven, we shall yet a little while avoid the fate 
which is imijending over us, we are as surely des- 
tined to meet it, " as the sparks fly upwards." In my 
view of the actual condition of your affairs, (with- 
out undertaking to determine what else it maj' be- 
come you to do, or to forbear,) it is absolutely and 
indispensably necessary to give your brethren in o- 
ther quarters ofthe Union, distinctly to understand, 



13 

tbat you never will acknow ledge the rigbt cl.iinaed 
for the Federal Government, in either or nil of its 
departments, to decide " ultimately and conclusive- 
ly as to the extent of its own powers," that you ne- 
ver will conseut to substitute the will of the majori- 
ty for the Constitution, nor recognize i!ne<jri.stitut.ion' 
al acts of Congress, as the supreme law of the land. 
That viewing the Constitution as a compact pres- 
cribing limits to the Federal Government, the State 
of South Carolina, as one ofthe parties to that com- 
pact, in its sovereign capncity, claims Hie rig/it " ^o 
judge of its infractions;" and- that v.Lilst she will at 
ill times yield a ready and cheerful obedience to all 
laws made " in pursua?.'ce ofthe Constitution," she 
flaims the rigid to hold to be utterly null and void, 
all such as clearly violate ti e reserved rights ofthe 
States. Let these principles be maintained, and 
your rights may be preserved. The day that you 
surrender them, and itcknov.iedge tLe will of the 
majority, as declared hi th.i acts of Congress, to be 
the supreme law, you will have surier-dered the 
glorious privileges of freedom, to put the yoke upon 
your own necks, to fasten manacles upon your own, 
and the hands of your ciiiidreu, to surrender your 
valuable possessions without a strun:gle,asid consent- 
ed to put yourselves and all that you possess at the 
mercy of those, who though standing to you in the 
relation, and calling themselves your " hrethren^ 
have in the eager pursuit of their own peculiar inte- 
rests, turned a deaf ear to your loiui remonstran- 
ces, mocked at your complaints, and manifested an 
utter disregard of your feelings, your rights and 
your interests. 

The motif, gentlemen by R'hich tbese principles are 
to be brought into operation, Avben a case sbiill 
arise to justify their application, is a question con- 
cerning which there may exist much difference of 
opinion, and which it appears to roe of no impor- 
tance to decide. When the hour for action arrives, 
the friends of State Rights will hardly be found 
quarrelling among themselves as to the mode of 
proceeding. On this point, I say with A' r. Jeffer- 
son, that the State has not only a right to "judge of 
infractions of the Constitution," but also (,-f ' the 
vwde and r?7eos'tre of redress' [see Kentuckv Reso- 
lutions of '98] and whether she shall, through the 
Legislature, or by Convention — bj' der;]r:rir.;:; the 
acts " void and of nofor-ce" or by adopting- other 
measures" maintain "the authoriti^^^s. rights and 



14 

liberties appertaining to her" — are all questions to 
be decided by those who may have the destiny of 
the State in their hands. When the emergency 
shall arrive to require the State, in the opinion of 
her citizens, to be put upon her sovereignty, I shall 
hold no man less my brother in the cause of State 
Rights, because he may differ from me as to the 
mode in which the action of the State is to be 
brought about. While on this topic, however, I 
•will take occasion to remark, that it has seeined 
good to those who are laboring to bring State 
Rights into disrepute, to represent their advocates 
of the present day as contendi-ng for new doctrines^ 
and the changes have been rung upon the " Caro- 
lina doctrines," and the " nullifying doctrines," un- 
til well meaning men, even among ourselves, have 
been induced to believe, that they are of modern 
invention, and that the very term nullification has 
been coined to suit our present purpose. Now, 
whether the term be a proper one, or not, and 
whether the doctrine which it is supposed to em- 
brace, be sound, or unsound, it is certain, that they 
are both as old at least as 1799. The Kentucky 
Resolutions of that year, generally attributed (like 
those of '98) to the pen of Thomas Jefferson, con- 
tain the following words : (I Avii! i-end them to you 
gentlemen, to prevent any mistake.) " The seve- 
ral States that framed that instrument, the Federal 
Constitution, being sovereign and independent^ have 
the unquestionable right to judge of its infractions, 
and a nullification by those Sovereignties, of all un- 
authorized acts, done under color of that instru- 
ment, is the rightful remedy.'''' I presume we shall 
hear no more of '• nullification" being a modern in- 
vention, and the " Carolina doctrines," will, per- 
haps, find more favor in the eyes of some, when 
traced to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 
'98 and '99. But the true import and extent of this 
doctrine, it seems to me, has also been greatly mis- 
represented. The advocates of State Rights have 
been represented as contending for the right of a 
State, to repeal at pleasure, all or any of the Acts 
of Congress, and the consequences of the exercise 
of such an authority has been made the subject of 
denunciation and of sarcasm. Now as far as I know, 
no advocate of State Rights has ever contended 
that the exercise of the Legislative powers of (con- 
gress in relation to the Army, the Navy, Fortifica- 
tions, the Post Office, the Ju(liciary, the regulation 



15 



>f Commerce, in relation to War or Peace, cr any 
other matter, expressly confided by the Constitu- 
tion to the Federal Government, can be lawfully 
arrested or stayed by any power whatever. It has 
never been doubted or denied that the acts of the 
Federal Government, within the acknowledged 
sphere of its authority, are obligatory upon the 
States, nor that the laws of Congress " made in 

pursuance of the Constitution, are the supremj * 

laws of the land." But it has been contended that 
in an extraordinary case, where the powers re- 
served to the States, under the Constitution, are 
usurped by the Federal government, and it comes 
to be a question of conflicting claims to sovereignty, 
it is " the right of a State," and in a proper case, 
would become "a solemn duty," not only ''to 
judge of the infractions of the Constitution,' but 
to interpose its authority for the preservation of 

its reserved riglits. If the Federal Government 

shall confine its operations to matters clearly Fede- 
ral, and in which all of us have a common interest, 
no collision could possibly arise. It is only Avhen 
they assume doubtful powers not expressly granted; 
when they (who alone possess practically the pow- 
«rto make it) refuse " to appeal to the source of 
power," which Gen. Jackson well considers " as 
the most sacred of all our obligations"— that it 
could even become necessary that a State should 
interpose " for arresting the progress of the evil, 
iintil such time as (according to the idea ot Mr. 
Jefferson) " a Convention assembled at the call ot 
Congress, or two-thirds of the States, should decide 
to which they mean to give an authority claimed by 
two of their organs." In an extreme case likeX 
this, there is no other jiossible remedy, and it does 
appear to me that the exisiertce of this right will be 
found indispensable to the preservation of tne re- 
served ri'rhts of the State, though its exercise 
ouo^ht to be, and will be restrained by all the con- 
siderations of prudence and of patriotism, which 
must make it the interest, as it will be the duty ot a 
State, not to take sujh high ground, until the only 
alternative left is to assume it, or " to submit to a 
Government without limitation of power. It does 

* Mr. IMadison in his Report thus describes the 
cases which he supposes would call for the interpo- 
sition of a State " to avert the progress of "««[?»- 
iion." 1st. "Where the violation of tneOoustitu^ 



16 

appear to rae, in the language of Mr. Madison's 
Report '• that if tlie deliberatri exercise of powers 
palpably withheld by the Constitution, could not 
justify the parties to it, to interpose even so far as 
to arrest the progress of the evil, and to maintain 
the rights and liberties appertaining to the States, 
as parties to the Constitution, and thereby to pre- 
serve the Constitution itself, there would be an end 
to all relief from usurped power." This power may 
be liable to abuse, tho' while the Constitution shall 
be expounded fairly, and justly administered — 
and the Union shall be felt as a common blessing, 
I hardly consider it possible that it should be a- 
bused, but however that may be, it is certainly less 
liable to abuse than the power claimed on the other 
hand for the federal government: it is less liable to 
abuse than the power daily exerted by a 'bare ma- 
jority of the Judges of the Supreme Court of annul- 
ling, not only the acts of Congress, but of every 
State in the Union — and it is moreover indispensa- 
bly necessary for the preservation of the reserved 
rights of the States and of the people, unless it is 
intended that these shall be held at the mercy of 
•^he Federal Government. 

I will put a strong case and let gentlemen point 
out if they can the "rightful remedy," according to 
their principles. The Treasury being filled by tax- 
es imposed upon you, under all the forms of the con- 
siitution, the money is appropriated to purchase the 
freedom of your slaves, for the purpuse of coloni- 
zing them in Africa. You are 1o be paid for your 
property v/ith money drawn from your own pockets, 
until the money is exhausted, and your ])roperty 
gone! What is the i'<miedy ? According to the prin- 
ciples advocated on the other side, it is your duty to 
sub'iiit. The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction 
ovei' the Act levying thi; tax (for like the Tariff, it- 
purports to be for revenue,) nor over that appropria- 
ting tiie money. The Federal Government has de- 
cided the la'v to be constitutional — it has been sanc- 
tioned by the will of a majority, (the supreme law) — 
tbe State has no right "to judge of the infraction," 
or "tJ interpose its authority," in any way— what 

tiori shall be of a nature dangerous fo the f^reai pur- 
poses for whicli it was established." 2d. It must be 
a case " not obscure and doubtful, but plain and 
polpahhy And lastly, it must be a case " stampt 
•.v'tii delil>erate consideration, and fi)tal adlrrence.''^ 



17 

then? — Yoti ore' bound to submit. — No, say gentle- 
men, 1/ou inustrebft — you hav^e still "tlie right of /e- 
belUoii''' left, — a"soveroigu State"guilt3 ot' rebel/ionl 
Thus you see, gentkuisn, that it comes to this, that 
a State, or the peupie of a Sbtte have no nitaas 
left of preserving the rights expressly reserved to 
them by the terms of the compact, but by incurring 
the guilt and meriting the fate of traitors, unless in- 
deed their treason shall be sanctified by success , and 
the free citizens of a sovereign State have precisely 
tlie same remedy for the preservation of their con- 
stitutional right, as the slaves of some eastern des- 
potism — rebellion ! 

Leaving this topic I proceed to make a few brief 
remarks in relation to the course which the Re;)re- 
sentatives from South-Carolina have foui.d them- 
selves called upon to pursue. From the session of 
'•23, '24, when the " American S3 stem," in its two 
branches of the Taritf and Internal Improvement, 
became, as we have been told, the settled policy of 
the country, your Representatives have been com- 
pelled to struggle with fearful odds, and under the 
most#dtscouraging cii'cumstances, against measures 
which the people of South-Carolina had in their pri- 
mary assenibiies denounced as " usiConstitutional, 
oppressive caud unjust," and which t-e Legislature, 
after repeated remonstrances and protests, had so- 
lemnly declared to be " so gross a violation of the 
rights of the peo{)le, and so palpable a usurpation of 
powers not granted, that the measures to be pursu- 
»ed consequent o:a a perseverance in this system, 
were purely questions of exyiediency, and not of al- 
le,q;iance ," and that "thev wt-re only then restrain- 
ed from the assertion of ihe sovereign rights of the 
State, by the hope that tiie magnanimity andju^tice 
of the good people of the Union, would effec? r.M a- 
baadon:'-ieat of a system partial in its nature, unjust 
in its operation, and not within the powers delegated 
ta Congress."* Instructed, Gentlemen, as your 
Representatives have been, to maaitain these senti- 
meiits, they have endeavored to sujjport them with 
u fidelity due to the expression of the deliberate ? pi- 
nions of their constituents, and a zenl proportioned 
to their conviction of their truth and importance. 
They have, nevertheless, been condemned to V7;T;iess 
the repeated failure of all their exertions; the^r ap- 
peals to the "magnanimity and justice"of their breth- 

* Resolution of December, 1828 



1$ 

*en tiBve been made in vain, and they have been left 
under the painful conviction of the truth of Mr. Jef- 
ferson's assertion, t!iat reason and argument in op- 
position to this system of lesr;ilized pluuder, might 
justasnell have been addressed " to tlie marble 
columns which surround our legislative halls." We 
have been compelled, Gentlemen, to see the system 
of Imposts, designed by the Constitution fjr raising 
revenue, openly perverted to the purpose of laying 
the agriculture and commerce of the count rv, and 
especially of the Southern States, under contribu- 
tion to the manufacturers. We have seen the system 
of Inlenuii Tnvproeer.icni, which ci.me recommended 
to us by the fair promise of unnumbered Messings. 
degtaded into a "disgraceful scramble" for the pub- 
lic ma iey, and threatei)iog speedily tn become in the 
prophetic language of Mr. Jefferson, " a source of 
boundless pitronage to the Executive, orjohbiug to 
members of Congress and their friends, a))d a hot- 
tomless abyss of public money— a siurce of eterua! 
scramble among the members who c:*.-) get most mo- 
ney wasted in their States, and in which they ifiU get 
most who are tneanesV* We have been constrained 
to see ano ♦o feel, that the whole course of affairs, 
the entire t?'!dency of thing?, was to add by con- 
struction to the power of tiie Federnl Government. 
to assume an unwarrantable jurisdiction over our 
persons and our property, by "organizing the whole 
labor and capital of (he country"~controlling our 
pursuits of industry, and attempting to bring about 
an artificial equalitj^, by transferring the profits of 
the Southern planter to morefavored portions of the 
<rotnmunity. Your Representatives seeing these 
things passing every dny before their eyes, and hav- 
ing no power to arrest their progress, have felt it 
10 be their duty from time to time f'aithfuUy to warn 
7/0?/ of the actual state of affairs. They liave expos- 
ed to you the true character and extent of the difh- 
eu'ties which surround you ; and have told you 
frankly of the entire failure of their utmost efforts 
fo avert these evils. If staiuiing as " sentinels on 
the watch to^ver" of your rights and liberlief!, they 
had told you that " all was well," while the enemy 
was iuide-;uiining the very found.itionsof the citadel, 
they might have reposed in peace ; but yo ■ would 
Uave been roused up when the enemy was'npon you, 

* Mr. Jefferson's letter to Mr. Madison of March 
?tb, 1776. 



19 

and wlien all of your efforts to avert the evils of ft 
" consolidated government," would have been m 

Vour Representatives, Gentlemen, (I say it proud- 
ly,) feel that they have done their duly ; ^vhat remains 
to be done, it is fur you, and not for them to decide. 

This o-loomy picture of our atfairs is brifrhtenecl 
but by a solitary jrleam of light, arisingfi-om the re- 
jection, by theExecutive, of the Maysyille Road.— 
Ves, Gentlemen, the man who hnd ' filled the mea- 
sure of his country'? glory," has once more thrown 
himself into the breach-has oiice more bared his 
noble bosom ia de e^ice of the Constitution and ot 
our liberties, against those who, though regardless 
of the " beauty:' are intent upon the " hooty ot 
the couutry,-and God grant, that noAV as then, the 
invaders may be driven back, " discomfated and dis- 

ojraced." ,, ,- 

Gen. Jackson in puttinjrhis veto upon the Mays- 
ville Road Bill has opened to the c?outhern States 
the first dawning of returning hope. The reduction 
of the duties upon salt and molasses and a few other 
articles though a mc:; -ire just in itself,as lessening 
the burdens of the people, and calculated m some 
^mall degree t^ weaken the ties which bind the mem- 
bers of the American system party together, tur- 
nishes in my opinion no ground for any confident ex- 
pectation, that the system will be broken up, espe- 
cially in the face of the overwhelming majority by 
which Mr. McDuffie's motion to repeal the Tarihs ot 
18'>8 and 1824 was voted down in the House ot Re- 
presentatives. But the rejection of the Maysville 
Road, if it can be viewed as a pledge that no work 
of Internal Improvement is to be prosecuted during 
the administration of the present Executive, may be 
hailed as the most auspicious event which has taken 
nlace in the history of the country for years past. It 
we can be pf^rmitted to indulge the hope, that the 
Tariff and Internal Improvements, heretofore united 
in the unholy bands of an unlawful wedlock, are now 
toberfnwcw/,— if those are to be "put asunder, 
whom God has not 'joined together," then indeed 
is there cause for rejoiciog; for without claiming to 
be a " Prophet or the son of a Prophet, 1 think 1 
may predict that the Tariff will not long survive the 
death of Internal Improvement. United for "nnoly 
ends, and subsisting by mutual plunder, it can hard- 
ly be doul)ted that a separation will be the destruc- 
tTon of both. Let us iben on this occasion pour 



20 

forth the acknowledgrements of a nation's ajratitude 
to the author of Tnis got;d. Great as ;re ti'.e claims 
of Geo. Jackson to the gratitude of his country, this 
act has given !iim new titles to oar regard On no 
occasion of his eventful lite, has he displayed a more 
gere.o.'.s disre;i;nrd of ail selfish consider iition, more 
exalted j/atriotis.Li, or inore heroic courao;e, sad 
should this prove to be only the first step in a course 
whica is to restore the Constitution to its orii!,iiial 
principles, and bring oack the governuient to a sound 
and wise policy, the name of Jackson wi;l go down 
to posterity as lite Vv;i'<;nngto» of •' his day and ^^v.- 
n-ratiou." But it dues appear to me, that though 
t'iis -.ct on the pArt of the President ougi^t to be 
hhiied with acclamation by everj^ Jover of bis c<nm- 
trv, it can furnish no apology for an abaodonirient 
b_ .!s, of the great cause of State Rights. Now when 
t;^e <iiietoy is in confusion and disaiay, are we by 
la>ing d'Mvn our ar as to enable him to rally, and re- 
turn with renovated vigor to the cotiSict. H' wc are 
satisfied with the rejection of the isKaysviUe lluad, 
we cfin hardly hope for other and greater triumphs. 
Be ides, who can tell, whether the President will lie 
sus'Simed in the perilous conflict in whiih he has 
engs'r?d. Already do we find his advoc.ttes in tl:e 
Wes': ■? indicating his c!mrse,on the ground that "the 
Ameri'an system" is slili to be maintained liy the 
adaiini-tration in all its vigor, and pointing to the 
message they adduce, in support of their as3erti'>n, 
th ! L'nguage of the President which svsinius the 
Tariff, on the grounds " of its consistency with the 
lette.- and s;)irit of the con^stitution — (.-fits origin be- 
ing traced to the consent of all the parties to the ori- 
ginal Cv.«in:;aet, and of iis having the support and a|)- 
probation <,f the majority of the people," while with 
regard to Ii;te.-nal Lopru cment, they poict triunriplt^ 
a.'.tly to "the admission in \\\?: message of the right 
o^' .ippropriatii;^: money to Roads and Canals of a 
nat'oiml character. Language Hke tiiis coming from 
such J quart-ir, is certainly calculated in some de- 
gree to chasten the exultation and joy with which 
this act of the President's has been received by the 
Southern States. 

i>ut T have trespassed. Gentlemen, too long upon 
your patience, and mu -t hasten t-t a close. Let me 
say, then. '\\\ co iclusi m, that 1 do c-ifiscientioissiy 
be'i^ve, that the assertion of the pr'nciples \ have 
vinJ''^ited, is essevjti;;] Jo the great cause rf State 
Rights, though I believe the abandonment bv South- 



Carolina of the grounds solemnly assumed and re- 
peatedly avowed by our legislature,will amount to an 
unconditional surrender of those principles. I 
wish not to be understood as indicating any particu- 
lar course as proper to be pursued by the 
State at this time, and under existing circum- 
stances. As one of the representatives of South- 
Carolina, I have at all times strenuously advocated 
these principles, and to the best of my ability, faith- 
fully maiutained the rights and interests confided lo 
my care. Further than this, I have not felt myself 
authorized to go ; to the people, and to them alone, 
it belongs to decide, both now and at all times here- 
after, how far and how long it is their interest or 
their duty to submit to acts of the Feder/il Govern- 
ment, which all feel to be a violation of their consti- 
tutional rights. For my single self, I am free to 
declare that I cherish a sincere and ardent devotion 
to the Union, and that to preserve it inviolate, I 
would willingly lay down my life. But the union 
which I revere, and which is dear to my heart, is 
founded on the constitution of my country. It is a 
Constitutional Union, which we are sworn to '^^ pre- 
serve, protect, and defend." I may be mistaken, 
fellow-citizens, but I have always believed, that 
nothing is wanting to secure the success of our 
cause, but union at home— such harmony of feeling 
and unity of action, as shall carry to the minds of 
our oppressors ike couvicfion, that we are in earnest — 
that we " know our rights, and knowing, dare main- 
tain them." And if, Gentlemen, we are destined to 
fail, and the South is to be drawn down from that 
" high and palmy state" of prosperity, dignity, and 
renown, which she has so long and so proudly occu- 
pied — if she is destined to be humbled in the very 
dust before her oppressors, I shall bve and die in the 
belief, that the calamity will have been brought 
upon. her, because her citizens have not been ii-ue to 
themselves -because we have listened to the voice of 
those who have no common sympathies with us -or 
who have an interest in perpetuating the abuses un- 
der which we suffer, or v.ho from unreasonable ap- 
prehensions of imaginary dangers, will have palsied 
the hearts, and shaken the constancy of their coun- 
trymen. 

But whatever may be the course of '^outh-Carolina, 
at the present crisis, it is my determination to stand by 
her side. When I shall be found actis^.g with her revi- 
krs, or enlisted under the banner of her fj/exuVs, may 



'* My right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth." It is the soil of 
Carolina, which has drank up the precious blood of 
our forefathers shed in her defence ; here repose the 
honored bones of my ancestors — it is here that I 
drew my first breath — ftere that I have been kindly 
fostered in youth, and sustained in manhood, by the 
generous confidence of my fellow-citizens. It is in 
the soil of Carolina that the eyes of my children first 
beheld the light. Bound to you, gentlemen, and to 
my country, by so many and such endearing ties, 
lei others desert her, if they can ; let them revile her if 
they ivill — I shall stand or fall with Carolina. God 
grant that wisdom and virtue, firmness and patriot- 
ism, may preside in her councils, and direct her 
measures; but should she err, I shall not be the re- 
creant son to join in the exultation of her enemies. 
I shall cast no reproaches into her teeth— but in ad- 
versity as in prosperity— " in weal and in Avoe" — 
through good report and through evil report— I go 
FOR MY Country." 

8. John C. Calhoun— With unsullied patriotism 
and splendid genius he is worthy of the highest ho- 
nors of his country, hut he would scorn to purchase 
them at the expense of the interest and principles of 
South Carolina. [6 cheers. 

After the President had given the following Toast 
the 1st Vice President, (Major Hamilton) rose and 
said: — 

"Gentlemen, when you see this Toast in print, it 
will be marked with inverted commas. It is a Toast 
quoted from those given on a recent occasion at a 
public dmner given to ourdistinguished and estima- 
ble fellow citizen, Joel 11. Poinsett, our late JVlinister 
to Mexico. This Toust stuck in somebody's throat 
— he could not swallow it. Let us see if this com- 
pany can, a-o it. Is there one in this assembly that 
gains S!iy this? The glowiiig exultation of your 
countenances tells me ' iVo. Not one.' " 

9. Our Deleff'ation in Con.fress — " Their efforts 
have deserved and will achieve success.'''' [6 ceeers. 

This Toast was drunk with tremendous cheers. 

10. Our Senior t^enator Williom Smith — We honor 
his steady and able support of the rights of the 
States. [6 cheers. 

11. Stephen D. Miller — In feeling acutely the 
wrongs of South Carolina, he has expressed a sensi- 
bility which becomes her Chief Magistrate. 

[6 cheers 



'28 

12. George McDuijie— With the soul and tongue o# 
Patrick Heury, he has interpreted to the infatuated 
Belshazzar the hand-writing on the wall. 

[o cheers. 

13. The Women of South Carolina — Among the 
best and fairest of their kind.— They will have no 
heart for him who has no heart for her. 

[3 cheers. 
VOLUii'TEERS. 
By Henry L. Pinckney, President of the Day.— 
¥.r. P. said that as the toastof our distinguished Re- 
presentative had been suggested by the decorations 
of the room, he would beg leave to borrow another 
from the same source. He tben gave — 

*' Liberty — The ConstUntion — Union.'''' 

Col. Cunningham, Chairman of the Committee of 
Arrangements,then submitted to the meeting,on be- 
half of the Committee, the following sentiment, 
which was received with the utmost enthusiasm. 

Lnngdon Cheves : In returnmg to South Caroli- 
na, he bring'' back with him a heart wiiich is true to 
her rights and which feels fv;r her wrongs. 

After the cheering had subf=i(Jed, Mr. Cheves rose 
and addressed the company as follov, s — 

Gentlemen : — Y "U h.ive d ne me no more than jus- 
tice in supi^osing th..t I h'-vt- returned <o my native 
state with the ft-elings yau liave attfibuted to me. — 
Hut it is no merit in nie to have dope so. It would 
be foul and «nnatur.<l were I to feel otherwise. It is 
neveriheless gr.itifying to me to learn that my fel- 
low-citizensi believe tli.it I feel as I ought to d(> nnd 
that "my heart IS in its right plnce." 1 have fre- 
quently, on recent occasi ns poured forth my 
thanks and my gratiude for you. kindness aud i 
shall not the efore r^^peat them at this time. 

It is imposNible that any loyal citizen, of South 
Carolina, « bether n.ntive or adopted, can look on the 
decay and [iroslraticn </f his country without grief 
and ind!grfatn>n, yet there is n joy personal to ray- 
self, uiinffit'd with these painful sympathies, which 
1 indulge in returning among you It is, that I come 
now lo shore a common fate uith you in your mis- 
fur tunes aiid sufferiiigs as I shared formerly with 
you in your joys and your prosperity. 1 left \oh 
exulting ana flourishiig in the rommon glory iiud 
common gealness of a common and united coun- 
try. I return to you when you are bowed down and 



u 

bumbled, before a portion of that country, to eulo' 
iiial suffering, dependt^nce and degrau ti n. 

Yes, (ieiitlemen, w hut is the condition of tiiis state 
and of all the Southern J?tates, but one of colonial 
suffering, dt-puxidence and disgr .ce ? 

'Jhere are BO les*. than seven Sovereign States 
whosf princii>ai iAgricultural Staples require a for- 
eign naarket ro be of any value. Tueir pursuits, at 
filename time, t.re cxciusivtly Ajiricuitural and 
thesf the only articie'* whirh can give value to the 
cultivation (f the soil. The actu.tl leg;slnti()n by 
wbicli tiiese interests are hound and contr<*lled, in- 
stead of r.bpiri«h»Mg them, by facilit.-.'tiug the enj;.>y- 
meut if a foreign market, denies the projQtable 
possession of that market ?v.d dtslroys the value 
of all the gi-eat products of your soil. If this were 
to foster any other isiterests of the same region of 
country, there wou'd at least be a mifigatingpre- 
tfcxt for legislation apparently so extraordinary, 
liut the motive of it i? uvowediy to encourage the 
industry and prom t' the di>tincl and separate in- 
teresls of another clinie hiid unother people. By 
whom are these iuw^ enacted? Have you partici- 
pated? No. Frnju T^hose Ifgisia ive will do they 
derive iheir ffficucy ? From yours? not in the 
smallest degree. IN')t one vote of all the Repre- 
sentatives in both Houses oi Congress, frona at least 
six Sovereign St )tes, in immediate junction and 
connexion, waa given in support of the passage of 
these laws, and their Jegislative voice was only 
heard in protests against their injustice and uncon- 
stitutionality. They were enacted by a legislative 
will (in ev?^ry just poiitical and moral sense affect- 
ing the subject) of a Foreign People ! In every such 
sen«e, a people as distinct and separate from you 
(and Geographically too as far from you) as those of 
Canada. 

If the burthens imposed by these laws, when col- 
lected in the shape of revenue, were returned, in 
the expenditures of government, to tbe people who 
bear them, they would have some semblance of the 
legislation of a people self governed, but the vast 
revenue exacted by them from the suffering States, 
is expended in the States by whose power and 
whose pleasure it is imposed. This is of all 
the effects of bad legislation, the most afflict- 
ive and destroying. As well might the blaz- 
ing orb of day, when seat to warm us, diiuk up, as 
it does, the tnoisture of the soil, and the providential 



4evv3 of night not return it, and yet the fruotiriru 
tion of the earth and the gathering of its fruits be 
hoped for, as to expect a country to thrive where a 
large revenue is collected and spent abroad. 

Now, how would you define a Colonial condition ? 
I would say it presented a people (no matter under 
what forms of government) who were controlled in 
their great interests by the legislative will of a peo- 
ple geographically and politically distinct from them. 

How, again, would you define an unjust and op- 
pressive colonial government ? I would say, thnt a 
government which made laws destroying the inter- 
ests of the dependent State was such a government. 
If I wished to define a worse government, I would 
say, that, where such laws were made with a view 
to promote exclusively the interests of the govern- 
ing people, the character was abundantly made out; 
and, if I wished to go further and to describe one 
under which a country must wither and perish, I 
would only add, that a vast revenue should be col- 
lected in the country in question, and spent abroad! 

I have made the analysis and put the facts side 
by side, that you may run the parallel, and, having 
done so, say, whether the condition of this State, 
and of all the Soutliern States, is not one exhibiting 
all the essential evils of colonial dependence ? Are 
you less colonial than Canada, for example? The 
great interests of that country, it is true, are con- 
trolled by the legislative will of Great Britain, 
which has the right,accordingto received notions of 
national law, to do so. 15ut so are you governed by 
a people equally distinct from you, except as you and 
they are connected by institutions, legal and moral, 
social and charitable, which forbid the exercise of 
such a power. But their peculiar interests are fos- 
tered — yours are oppressed. They receive boun- 
ties — you pay penalties. The burthens the people 
of that country bear are light — yours are enormous. 
The revenue collected from them is spent among 
them. That which you pay is spent abroad. 

Let us now look a little into the spirit and manner 
in which the power of which we complain, is exer- 
cised. For this purpose one or two examples will 
suffice. A very distinguished representative from 
this State, (Mr. McDulfie) on whom you have just 
bestowed a high and merited eulogium, standing at 
the head of the highest Committee of the House of 
Representatives, reported to the House, as an act of 
that Committee, a Bill, intended for Ihe purpose of 
3 



26 



examining and considering some of the great ques' 
tions of which the Southern states complain. One 
of the complaints set forth, it will be recollected, in 
the Declaration of Independence, was that in your 
former colonial state, your petitions weredisreg-.rd- 
ed. Let us now see how our present governors treat 
your present efforts to be heard. Contrary to all Par- 
liamentary usage, before a word is said in support or 
in explanation of a measure of such grave import- 
ance, so solemnly introduced, a member rises, anti- 
cipates the organ of the Committee, and moves a 
question (and it is sustained by the House) which 
precludes all debate, and decides the main question 
in the negative. There is not, I fearlessly say, a 
parallel for this proceeding in the legislation of any 
free people in modern times. I challenge an inves- 
tigation of the proceedings of the British Parlia- 
ment, of Congress and of the Legislatures of the 
several States of the Union, with the perfect con- 
viction, that no parallel can be found in them for 
this outrageous proceeding. But this was not e- 
nough. Your degradation was to be doubled by re- 
petition and increased by wanton insult. 

A distinguished member from Virginia, (Mr. P. P. 
Barbour) when the Buffalo Road Bill Avas, I be- 
lieve, indefinitely postponed, a decision which pass- 
ed it over for the session, and was equivalent to a 
rejection, ventured to express his joy, that a great 
evil had been, at least for a time, averted. "This 
was contumacy not to be borne, but to be punishe4. 
On the next day a motion Avas made for reconsider- 
ation, and this audacious act of the member from 
Virginia assigned as the reason, which was carried 
and the Bill laid upon the table, in a st.ite in which 
it could at any moment be called up, but not at all 
with this view, but simply to say to the distinguish- 
ed mover, slave ! you shall not even rejoice in our 
forbearance. 

, It is not for an humble individual like me to anti- 
cipate legislative wisdom, nor to suggest the time 
and manner in which a remedy for these evils is to 
be sought, but, for myself as a private citizen, I 
declare my belief that they present a state of things 
not to be borne, and which ought to be resisted, in 
some way or manner, at any and every hazard. I 
cannot forbear, however, to add one idea on this 
subject. 

This is a great southern question, in which South 
Carolina is no more interested than the rest of the 



27 



southern states. She may or she may not produce a 
few bales of cotton and a few barrels of rice more 
than some other states, but this certainly does not 
augment the interest she feels in it nor lessen that 
which they indulge. The question with all of them 
involves great pecuniary and great public rights — 
no less than the great rights of free and independent 
government. We cannot, therefore, either in policy 
or justice, in my opinion, act without seeking or a- 
•waiting their co-operation. This is the more im- 
periously our duty, if we rely upon their co-opera- 
tion in any difficulties which may involve the em- 
ployment of national force. I therefore deprecate 
a separate action, on the part of this state, at this 
time, as premature and impolitic. In accordance 
Avith these principles, I will, with your leave, give 
the following toast: 

'^ Southern Rights and Sonthern Wrongs. — Momei^ 
tous questions, on which the action of the States 
aggrieved should be instant and constant, but always 
together." 

Col. Cunningham then offered, on behalf of the 
Committer of Arrangements, the following toast, 
which was also received with long-continued and en- 
thusiastic cheering : — 

The Hon. James Hamilton. — His State will never 
forget his efforts in her behalf. She waits the oppor- 
tunity of confiding to him her first office. 

When the cheering with which this toast was tic- 
companied had ceased, (Major Hamilton addressed 
the company as foUoAvs : — 

Fellow- Citizens, — I thank jou most cordially for 
the sentiment you have just expressed, which has 
been received hj those assembled here in a manner 
calculated infinitely to enhance the difficulties of my 
making you an acknowledgement which wonld in 
any degree do justice to ray own feelings, if I were 
even so vain as to suppose 1 could pay this tribute 
to your goodness. My self-love shall, however, not 
transcend my gratitude. I must refer the largest 
portion ofthe compliment you have paid me, to that 
kind partiality with which I have been uniformly 
cherished by my friends and fellow citizens in this 
community rather than to any poor or humble me- 
rits of my o«n. 



^8 



fn this sentiment, you have been pleased, I pre- 
sume, to make reference to my efforts in the Nati- 
onal Legislature oithis Union. A retrospect of these 
efforts brings with it no recollections but those of 
discomfiture and regret. I was little else than the 
unavailing atid ineffectual witness of how much your 
Fights could he violated, and your interests injured 
without the possibility of prevention or redress. 

Gentlemen, I was comparatively a young man, 
when by the generous confidence of an adjoining dis- 
trict, I was sent to Congress. 

At this period, I do not believe there was an indi-' 
Tidual in this Union more thoroughly and enthusias- 
tically national in his politics than myself. I went 
to the immediate cejitre of the action of the Federal 
Government with every prepossession in its favor. 
I had taken up somewhat on trust,without much ex- 
amination, but with no other than the purest mo- 
tives, opinions in some respects (but with what I 
then supposed proper guards) calculated to sustain 
some of its implied powers. There was something 
in the picture of a magnificent government, invinci- 
ble in war, beneficent ia peace, holding in exact 
equipoise the scales of justice, presiding over all, 
sustauiing all, protecting all, with neither the power 
nor inclination TO do injury to any, well calculated 
to fascinate the imagination of a young man whose 
estimates of life were as sanguine as his knowledge 
was imperfect and limited. I was not, however, 
long at the great federal laboratory without disco- 
vering some radical defects in the practical opera- 
tion of its mechanism — some omens of sinister im- 
port, Avhich satisfied me, that those who had 
been invoking unceasing watchfulness and jeal- 
ousy on the "part of the States over the general 
government, were the trustworthy centinels of 
our liberty, that their challenges on the ramparts 
were the true and faithful watchwords ; and if they 
did not cry in a dark and starless night, '^AlPs ivell" 
it was because, indeed, all was not well ! In confess- 
ing this error of my first political impressions, I am 
influenced quite as much by a desire of doingjustice 
to the wisdom, and honor to the motives of those 
who, from the commencement of the operation of 
our federal system, have uniformly thought its high- 
est peril, as well as its greatest tendency, was to 
consolidation, as to put my own opinions beyond ca- 
vil or dispute. In short, Gentlemen, during the last 
four years of my service in Congress, I witnessed 



29' 

enough to convince me, that, practically, the gov- 
ernment of this confederacv was nothing more or 
less than an organ of indefinite power, admirably 
used (if not contrived) for the purpose of taxing one 
portion of the Union, with the view of distributing its 
exactions in another ; and that, under a league and 
copartnership between the Tariff and Internal Im- 
provement parties, monopoly was to be given to the 
one, and the fruits of the taxation necessary to se- 
cure that monopoly, to the other. 

I thought I perceived, as I think I do now, in this 
corruption, the seeds of the dissolution of this U- 
nion, sowed broad-cast, and about to germinate with 
a rank luxuriance. That man must be far gone in 
Utopian visions, who supposes that a confederate go- 
vernment like ours, can violate, if you please, even 
the spirit of the compact, for the purpose of usurp- 
ing powers of internal legislation among the States, 
when the object of such usurpation is to give to 
sheer plunder the forms of law, without terminating 
in a rapacious despotism over the minority, and in 
a thorough corruption of the public spirit "of those 
who are the favored objects of this unlawful booty. 
We have been told that that government is tlie 
worst which, with the forms of a free, has the ends 
of an arbitrary government. Whether ours has 
reached this condition, let the signs of the present 
crisis determine. 

In such a state of things, I leave you to decide, 
haw hopeless must have been the efforts of those, 
who in scorning to unite in such a system of free- 
booting, by the very^ fact of their daring to lift up 
their voices against It, only excited our oppressors 
to fresh acts of injustice. 

Here, Gentlemen, I should be inclined to con- 
clude, if your kind reference to the fact of my hav- 
ing been put in nomination for an office of honour 
and trust, did not render it necessary for me to tres- 
pass for a few moments on your goodness. Whilst 
I have not, nor do I intend to make this office the 
object either of my solicitation or avoidance, I am 
nevertheless desirous to shun no public question, by 
which the State may pass upon the important in- 
quiry of how far my opinions may render it safe for 
her to confide to me the privilege of consulting with 
her legislature, and the responsibility of executing 
her laws. 

To avoid all misconstruction, I will begin, Gentle- 
men, by throwing my opinions in the form of a creed 
by which I am willing to stand the issue, 

8* 



30 

I believe the Tariff to be " a pnlpahlB, deliberatt 
and dangeroiis violation of the Constitution," the 
more dangerous and the more insulting, because 
through a fraud upon the text of that instruaient, it 
abuses the letter whilst it flagitiously infracts the 
spirit of the compact. 

I believe it imposes a burden of direct taxation on 
the South, and what is vastly more momentous, of 
indirect taxation, by the diminishing the price and 
demand of our staples, consequent on the loss of our 
foreign trade, which will be utterly and irretrieva- 
bly ruinous. 

I believe that the General Government has no 
power to tax the sovereign States of this Confede- 
racy, except to pay its debts and just expences, and 
to provide for the common defence aud general wel- 
fare in their most conq^reheuswe ac/ise. 

I believe it has no substantive power to prosecute 
a system of internal improvements, whilst the prof- 
ligate corruptions, and insane extravagance, which 
have marked, practically, the use and Jabuse of this 
power, would forbid, on every principle of sound mo- 
rals and expediency', its exercise, even as a matter 
of seemingly necessary or direct implication. 

I believe that this system of unconstitutional tax- 
ation, on the one hand, and unjyst and unequal ex- 
penditure on the other, makes the condition of the 
South essentially Colonial, and that she is fast verg- 
ing to a desolation which, whilst it covers us with 
unutterable disgrace, entails upon our posterity in- 
evitable ruin. 

Believing all these things, and that all prospect of 
relieffromour oppressors is hopeless, I believe that 
the South ought and must resist. 

Gentlemen, an emment authority, no revolutiona- 
ry incendiary or anarchist, the most gifted oj)po- 
nent the French revolution ever had, has said, "That 
no commodity will bear a duty of three pence, or 
will bear a penny, when the general feelings of men 
are irritated, and two millions of people are resolved 
not to pay. The feelings of the Colonies were for* 
merly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs were- 
formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden, when called 
upon to pay 20 shillings. Would 20 sliiliings have 
ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune / No — but the pay- 
ment of half 20 shillings, on the prii!ci|)le it was de- 
manded, would have made him a slave." And so say 
I, that it matters not whether your duties be one 
hundred, or twenty-five per cent, when they are d»- 



il 

mauded on the principle oi protection, and not reve- 
nue, the South is equally a slave. 

It may be asked " ought and must resist." How, 
by disunion and civil war ? No, never, without those 
calamities are inflicted upon us by the sanguinary 
despotism and obstinate injustice of our oppressors. 
What then— by what mode and measure of remedy 
and redress ? Let the authorities of the sovereign 
States that pay this tribute, answer this question on 
the solemn responsibilities which they are under, to 
a suffering and indignant people. Let them consult ^ 
an enlightened forecast, a temperate, firm and sus- ' 
taining fortitude. Let them look back on the prin- 
ciple, canonized by the blood of innumerable mar- 
tyrs in our revolution. Let them look into the prin- 
ciple which we supposed was solemnly guaranteed 
by our compact, and let them look forward to the 
awful consequences of neglecting to protect, and 
forever defend these principles, which are unto us 
more than life, "the duties of life themselves." Do 
we promise more than she will perform when we 
say. To this appeal South-Carolina is ready to re- 
spond ? 

Gentlemen, a distinguished political philosopher, 
on the other side of the water, has said, "that the 
dangers of liberty can* never be greater from any 
eause, than they are from the remissness of a people 
to whose personal vigour, every constitution as it 
owed its establishment, so it must continue to owe 
its preservation." 

This relaxation of the public spirit in some quar- 
ters,is certainly one among the alarming signs of Ihe 
times. But perfect unanimity is not to be expected 
on a question of such infinite importance as the so- 
lemn issue which the tributary States must make up 
with the General Government. I say must make up, 
for you may take it as a position susceptible of the 
most rigid historical demonstration, that no despot 
in an arbitrary, and no despotic majority in a go- 
vernment calling itself free, will voluntarily surren- 
der the power of unlimited taxation. You must car- 
ry your appeal from their justice to interests that 
are ultimate in their character, if a superiority of 
physical force should protect them from the influence 
of fear. 

As to the mode of making up this issue with the 
general government,there may be anhonest differ- 
ence of opinion among those who are nevertheless 
thoroughly united in the conviction that we labor 



a2 

under intolerable evils, and that there exists an emi- 
nent necessity that they should be effectually re- 
dressed. These diaerences of opinion we are bound 
not only to tolerate, but to treat with kindness and 
respect. Have we not had presented to us this even- 
ing in a manner the most deeply and imposingly in- 
teresting, an illustration of this dissimilitude of sen- 
timent in our honoured and distinguished Guests? 
Our representative (Colonel Drayion) whilst he is 
scarcely less strong in denouncing the injustice and 
oppressive character of the present system of gov- 
ernment in its operation on the South,differswith our 
Senator (Gen. Hayne) on the question of remedy. 
He thinks that our evils have not yet amounted to a 
degree of suffering which would authorize us to put 
at hazard the integrity of the Union, - and that some 
of the measures of redress proposed involve this 
risk. But his text,free from all metaphysical abstrac- 
tions, affirms the great right of resistance, & what is 
not of less value, the right of a State peaceably to 
secede from the Union. But for one thing, gentle- 
men, I will pledge my life, that whatever difierence 
of opinion there may be between our friend 
and those who have listened to him — with none 
other than feelings of the most respectful considera- 
tion and ardent attachmerlt— when South Caro- 
lina does act, he will be found in the van of the 
conflict — sustaining our counsels, by the resources 
of his fine intellect and character, and adorning our 
struggles by the devoted valor of his chivalrous spi- 
rit. Yes, my life upon it, when the time does come, 
if his veins were fed by a spring as redundant as the 
fountam of Arethusa, he would pour out his blood 
like water to the last drop in defence of this land, 
the spot of his earliest attachments, and the object 
of his first and undying allegiance. 

If this unanimity is not to be expected among our 
friends, little ought we to suppose, that in a crisis of 
peculiar excitement, when great interests are pre- 
sumed to beat stake, that justice will be done either 
to our opinions or motives, by those who differ from 
us, with the embittered feelings of political rancour. 
If we are satisfied that we occupy no ground which 
we do not believe to be right, we may well afford to 
tolerate a dissent from our views, although that dis- 
sent should be accompanied by calumny and abuse. 

Let then, those cry disunion against those who 
mean nothing more than such a reform in the con- 
stitution as will prevent disunion. Let them cry, if 



33 

they will, nullification against those who think they 
find this doctrine expressly maintained by the au- 
thor of tlie Declaration of Independence, and impli- 
edly sustained by one of the most distinguished of 
the architects of our Constitution. Let them raise 
this cry, although no man has ever put this doctrine 
forth, in any other shape than as a matter for free 
discussion, which if true would be sustained, and if 
false would be abandoned,but forno purpose of party 
discipline or confederation. 

Let them insist, if they will, that there is a party 
bent on disunion ; the best answer we can make to 
this unfounded slander, is, by firm, temperate, and 
unceasmg efibrts to endeavour to save the union, 
by saving the constitution from an unhallowed 
breach and corrupt violation. Let them read to 
us, if they will, long homilies of submission, for 
the salutary purpose of showing, that the only 
way of securing our institutions from infraction, is 
to quietly submit to one violation of our compact af- 
ter another, under the fear, that if we constitution- 
ally resist, we shall be crushed, and that our op-- 
|)ressors ^re much more likely to be coaxed by our 
forbearance, after they are gorged with our plun- 
der, than intimidated by our resistance, whilst we 
yet have the power to resist. To all this, let us tell 
them, their work is very imperfectly done, even at 
second hand ; that in the pious discourses of a cer- 
tain learned divine, the Rev. Dr. Sacheverel, of fa- 
mous memory, in the enlightened essays of that dis- 
tinguished civilian Sir Robert Filmer, we fijid their 
doctrines of " passive obedience and non-resist- 
ance," drawn through the alembic of submission, 
until the crucible yields nothing but pure, unsophis- 
ticated drops of servility, so soothing, st dutive and 
balsamic, that ten drops are warranted a dose to 
make any man a coward and a slave ! 

But I will continue this odious and disgustful 
theme no longer. Let me turn to that part of the 
horizon which gleams with the light of consolation 
and hope— the morning star breaks from the sha- 
dows of night, and rises with cheering lustre. Public 
opinion, which does not long continue in the path of 
error, begins to discover that South Carolina has 
some pretext for her complaints, some grounds for 
her remonstrances, and some reasons for her pro- 
tests. Our heroic Chief Magistrate of the Unionha* 
put the seal of his honest and fearless reprobation, 
on a part of the felonies against which she complain- 



34 

ed. Nine-tenthsof her people are united and firm. 
With these auspices shall we give up the contest? — 
No! They furnish the highest imaginable incentives 
to its vigorous and temperate prosecution. 

If in no other form, at least in the steady resist- 
ance of public opinion, in the undying declaration 
that we will not sub'.nit, however long forbearance 
may have postponed or may still postpone resistance 
to a violation of the bargain, which binds us toge- 
ther as confederate States. 

Fellow-Citizens, if we are true to ourselves, we 
must triumph— our cause rests on the foundations of 
immutable truth and invincible justice ; and our 
success will be signalized by our fixing, on a surer 
basis, the securities and stipulations of the Consti- 
tution and Union. The page of history beams with 
instructive and consoling lessons, of minorities ob- 
taining their rights, even m great and arbitrary em- 
pires, where they have had too much intelligence and 
too much public virtue to abandon them. Need I re- 
fer to the triumph of religious freedom, in our own 
and on a recent day, which has flashed upon the 
world, after a long night of darkness and bigotry ?— 
Need I refer to that spot, which for the beauty of 
its verdure, poetry has called " the Green Isle of 
the Ocean," which but for this victory, history 
would have denominated the Island of perpetual 
misery and despair, to invigorate our hopes and 
sustain our confidence ? H?'- not her triumph 
been a bloodless one ? Has nut bigotry been over- 
thrown, with no other concussif>a to the British Con- 
stitution, but to add fresh securitifs to the Union of 
England, Scotland and Ireland ? Did she owe her 
success to submission or to the solernn and authen- 
tic signs, if justice was denied, of her determination 
to resist ? Let the constancy and bravery of her 
long sutTering and gallant people, answer these ques- 
tions — Yes, let Ireland speak for herself, through 
the holy enthusiasm of her genius ; by the inspira- 
tion of her muse ; by the deep pathos and matchless 
beauty of her Bard, when she tolls the world — the 
interdictofthe Grave has been reversed*— the day has 
come — the Epitaph of Emmet may now be written! 

Let me apply her bright omen of s7i,ccess to our for- 
tunes, and the example of her spirit [or our imitation. 

*^ The dying injunction of Emmett was, that his 
Epitaph should not be written until the wrongs of 
bis country were redressed. 



35 

Ves, my friends, in making this application, -we 
will indulge in no gloomy forebodings. We will not 
picture to ourselves the worst edict of exile which 
tyranny can pronounce against a suffering people — 
an exile which poverty, ruin and desolation compel, 
by an inexorable fiat — God forbid, after such an 
exile, the first but bitter fsuit of an abject submis- 
sion, that some of our descendants should be des- 
tined, in returning, if for nothing else, to visit the 
graves of their fathers, they should see no signs left 
of a people " thai once was,'''' but these last decaying 
memorials of fondness and aiTection, and in wan- 
dering amidst them, to be compelled to exclaim — 
Alas poor country; 
Almost afraid to know itself ! Itcranot 
Be called our Mother, but our Crave. 

No ! such a destiny is not in reserve yt'r«5. Tak- 
ing counsel rather from courage than despair ; ad- 
vancing no claim that is not founded on our right ; 
pursuing at once a course of enlightei:ed modera- 
tion and inflexible firmness ; our cause, which is the 
cause of the Constitution, shall triumph. Again 
will fraternal affection bless the concord of this 
mighty Union. 'I'his city, our venerable parent, the 
theatre once of victorious enterprize and generous- 
ly requited industry; the abode of hospitality, 
refinement, and an elevated public spirit, will lift 
up its dejected head to receive the renewed 
sunshine of God's chosen blessings. Our fields 
brightened with the verdure of unbounded promise 
and ladened with the fruits of luxuriant harvests, in 
their cheerful aspect, will reflect the prosperity of 
a contented and «M?7^rf people. We know the value 
of these objects, but let us not misunderstand the 
price at which they are to be obtained. 

Can I more aj)propriately conclude than by offer- 
ing you the following sentiment ? 

" i^ouih- Carolina — Wisdom to her counsels ; deci- 
sion to her action, prosperity and honour to her ends." 

By General Hayne : State Rights — the only 
sure basis of C oust Itnt'wnaJ liberty . " On «s, in the 
Providence of God has lieen cast the special guar- 
dianship of the great princi))le. Should it fail here, 
all hope will be extinguisiied." 

Aflerthe above toast, Barnard E. Bee, Esq. rose 
and solicited permission to ofler the following senti- 
ment, which he felt assured would be well received.. 



36 

By Barnard E. Bee, Esq — The Author of Brutus : 
Ardent in the causeof Carolina : unjustly censured 
*' for vindicating his native southern country, to 
which he is attached by no ordinary ties, and in which 
iis dust is likely to be mingled, with that of father, 
mother, children and friends." 

The toast was received with heartfelt and long; 
continued plaudits, after which Mr. Turnbull ad- 
dressed the company as follows : — 

Fellow Citizens — The manner in which this toast 
has been recei¥ed merits my warmest arkqowletlg- 
mt nts. I am the more thankful to 3 ou for this dis- 
tinguished mirk of your appiobation, because it is 
the first punlicoccasinn in whicbmy fellow towns- 
men hi ve so distinctly honoured & iiffirraed the prin- 
ciples of Brutus. 

VVben, Gentlemen, I first thought of submitting 
tiiesep inciples to the public. I was not insensible of 
the difiicully ond the delicacy of the undertnking : 
I was aware that I would have to contend with the 
preconceived opinions of my feUow citizens, run- 
ning in a powerful current against me, and that I 
W'luld be Oi p'sed in au especi 1 m:!nner, by that 
1 ludable, constant and ardent devotion to the Federal 
Union, fur which, 'in 'his State, our citizens have 
been pre-eminently distiriguished: I therefore pon- 
dered tor awhile whetlu-r I could proceed, with a hope 
even of usefulness. But when I saw. that in the 
extravagance ofthi.^ love and vener.ition for Union, 
my fellow citizens began to be unmindful of their 
sacred allegi.-.nce to their own State, and of their 
high duty to themselves ; that they hadin fact al- 
ready forgotten, thai though in ccmmerce, in war, 
in forpis:n uegociation, and m an ui extinguishable 
love of freedom, we were a nation one and indivis- 
abie; yet, that for ail internal purposes, we were so 
mai>y separate and confedtrate sovereigoties, I 
then felt it t ■ be my duty to step forth ai.dlo warn 
my countrymen against titose u^^urpations of the 
Government, wiiich were about to subvert the hap- 
py relatiiins ia which the States h«d pbced them- 
selves by com act, .Tndjthup to throw all the parts of 
this bright and glorious Confederacy hithf^rto so 
concordant, into an incongruous und an inharmoni- 
ous whole. 

How far I have suf.ceeded in musing our people to 
a sense of the drinkers which surroundtd them, it 
does not become me to say: lint of this I am well 



•37 

assured, that as far as tke sentimenteof the people 
have been expressed, through tbeir Constitutional 
organ, the Legislature, I have more than the sanc- 
tion of an approving conscience for all that I have 
dune. My pricciples have not only been incorpora- 
ted in the resdutions, remonstrances and ^jrotests 
oCour own Legislnture, but they have been adopted 
by other Southern Legislatures. yesGen«lentien,the 
conviction daily becdmes more & more deeply root- 
ed in the public mind, and it is in vain to gainsay it, 
that there ?s on the part of Congress, a greaiand a 
g-riwtew^ spirit of usurpation, which if not arrested, 
must eventuate in the destruction ofourcomraerce, 
and in the loss of our liberties. It is under the influ- 
ence uf this conviction that you have seen the stan- 
dard of .•5ta(e Rights, unfurled of late, even in theCity 
of Washington — unfurled, not in hostile army, but 
in friendship and alliance with the true friends 
of Uoinn, and there to be iiitwined, let us still 
hope, with the Banner of the Constitution. In Ihe 
Halls of Congress you have 'een the doctrine dis- 
tinctly asserted, not by our Delegation alone, but 
by members from the East, and West., that our Fed- 
eral Union IS a compact between separate and in- 
dependent political communities — that there are 
NO parties to that compact but SOVEKEIGN 
STATES, & that to eacfeof these Sovereign States 
is reserved the unalienable right, and upon all of 
them imposed the Paramount duty, of severally pro- 
tecting their citizens, from the oppressions of the 
Central Government. 

And whence are these doctrines ? Think ye that 
they originated with the individual who now ad- 
dresses you ? Is it to the author of Brutus that yoxi 
would ascribe the praise ? Would to God, gentle- 
men, that I could boast of such a distinction, or that 
Providence had given me the mind to conceive, and 
the high and exalted influence so successfully to pro- 
pagate doctrines and princijiles, not only involving 
the prosperity and safety ofthis little section of the 
Union ; but on which, the happiness of the unborn 
millions of freemen, who are to people this Western 
world, must ultimately depend. No, gentlemen, no ! 
They emanate from no common mind ; they come 
from authority of the highest order; they flow from 
a fountain to which, whenever you are weary and 
heavy laden with the burden of oppression, you may 
always repair, and there drink of the refreshing 
waters of the spirit of Liberty ; they belong to the 
4 



3& 

author of the Declaration of Independence — to that. 
Jefferson whom you have long since canonized, and 
to the tbe sages and statesmen of that Virginia 
" who with the Caroi-inas and Georgia, so fear- 
lessly walked together in the valley of the shadow 
of death, in the war for our independence." 

To Jefferson, then, give the praise for those doc- 
trines in which alone the conservative power of the 
State Sovereignties is to be sought for and found, 
and which have been called by way of reproach — 
" The Carolina doctrines." Aline has only been 
the merit of holding up to you, as in a mirror, these 
principles of your great prototype; to place them 
before the admiring eyes of his disciples, in all 
the various positions of light and of shade of which 
they are susceptible; to illustrate their truth ; to 
display their beauty, and to recommend them as be- 
ing adapted, in an especial manner, to the circum- 
stances, the wants, and above all, to the domestic 
tranquillity of the South. In this secondary voca- 
tion alone has Brutus laboured. He has trodden in 
no path, which had uot been hallowed by the foot- 
steps of Jefferson. Y»y no other light has he been 
guided than by the light of his luminous mind. And 
such, my fellow-citizens, "is the irresistH/le nainre: 
of truth, that all it «67>s, and all it wwwfe, is the li- 
berty of appearing." The Sun needs no inscription 
to distinguish him from darkness ; and no sooner, 
therefore, did the " Carolina Doctrines" display 
themselves to our people in their beauty and efful- 
gence, than all those who liad been so long gazing 
on the gaudy trappings and tinseled court dress 
of a consolidated government, felt as it were a 
shock, and bowed down and acknowledged their 
power, and the citizens of our State began at once to 
think, and tliinking, next to contemjjlate redress for 
the violation of llieir rigiits, and tise aggressions up- 
on their sovereignty. True it is. that there arc 
those amongst us who, declaiming upon the never 
ending theme ofthe horrors of disunioiJ,and of Ih'itish 
alliance, hope thereby to put out all the lig-hts 
which the sun of free inquiry is now shedding 
throughout our land, upon the subject of the sove- 
reign rights ofthe States; who, not having one 
single spark ofthe spirit of freedom in their own 
i)osoms, and a's unworthy ofthe rich inheritance left 
them by their fathers, as they are unable to meet 
their antagonists in the fair and open held of argu- 
ment, vainly hope to lessen the influence ofthe "Ca- 



39 

rohna Doctrines," by calling Brutus a tbreigner. 
From such an opposition as this, the doctrine of 
State Rights, with the Constitution for its base, and 
Jefferson for its corner atoiie, has nothing to fear. — 
•'Instead of sufferingbyit,it receives an homage. The 
more it is struck, the more sparks it will emit ; and 
the fear is, it will not be struck enough. It has no- 
thing to dread from attacks — truth has given it an 
establishment — and time will record it with a name 
as lasting as his own." 

Fellow-Citizens— The atrocious crime of being 
nn adopted foreigner, is a charge which I shall nei- 
ther attempt to palliate nor deny. But as my birth 
place, a circumstance in itself of no moment has be* 
come so by the public curiosity which has 
been lately awakened concerning it, in conse- 
quence of some attacks made upon me in the pub- 
lic prints, it is due to the intreaties of some of my 
friends, and not to any conviction, in my own mind, 
of its necessity, to satisfy their curiosity. Before 
vou declared your Independence, I was born a 
North American, South of Mason's and Dixon's line, 
and within the present limits of the United States. 
My father, who was amongst the first colonists of 
East Florida, after its cession to Great Britain, re- 
moved with his family from that Province, (my 
birth place) into Charleston, during the Revolution. 
He was friendly to the American cause, and his re- 
moval was at the instance of the most distinguished 
patriots of this city, with whom he lived in a close 
and lasting friendship. The preliminary articles, as 
well as the definitive Treaty of Peace, found me here 
rn Charleston achi/d, and of course recognized me as 
a citizen of the United States, It is now fifty years 
since I first appeared amongst you. From that time 
till the present, I have been domiciled here. Mo oth- 
er " home, sweet home," have I ever had but this 
same city. JVly first act in manhood was my oath to 
support the Constitution, first of this State, and 
next of the United States. The supremacy of ray al- 
legiance to my first parent, I can never forget. " If 
ere I do forget thee," Carolina, " may my right 
hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember 
thee, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth." 

But I scorn, Gentlemen, to make the statements I 
have just given any part of my defence. To the 
charge of being an adopted foreigner, I am willing to 
plead guilty ; and I justify, and I throw myself up 



40 

on God and my country, which country you are 
8ay that I was born, not merely under the 
British King's allegiance, as a Colonist, but 
within the sound of Bow Bell. Am I, on that 
account, to be less appreciated in a coun- 
try which professes to hold out an asylum for 
the oppressed of all nations ; which throws wide 
open the doors of hospitality to all foreigners, kind- 
ly inviting them to come in and partake with them 
of the bread and the refreshments of equal suff- 
rage, toleration and liberty? Think ye, that if 
Providence, instead of burning me with a South- 
ern Sun, had associated me in birth with Locke 
and Milton, Chatham and Fox, and the long line 
of English philosophers, divines, poets and states- 
men, with whom our ancestors once so sweet- 
ly drank of the waters of knowledge, liberty, and 
eternal life. Th,ink ye, I repeat, that I would shrink 
from the honor of such an association ? Would you, 
my fellow citizens, be disposed to denounce me, if, 
like my honored father, I had drawn my first breath 
amongst that people, who in the age of Trajan and 
the Antonines, when the Roman Monarchy was at its 
meridian splendour, and when every other part of 
the present British Empire had been subjected to 
the Imperial Generals, conld boast of the un violated 
independence of their native land; who have since 
so nobly struggled and died for Scotland's laws and 
Scotland's liberties, and who in these our own days 
are " making an eagle's flight over every region of 
knowledge, with an eye that nevefr winks, and a it'ing 
that never tires.^^ Shall the honest, industrious, 
brave and hardy emigrants of Germany, the coun- 
try of De Kalb, whose fidelity to your cause 
was sealed with his blood, and whose bones 
lie buried in your own Southern soil, — a coun- 
try surrounded by so many imperishable monu- 
ments, to record to the latest ages, its phi- 
losophy, its learning, its arts, and its ingenui- 
ty. Shall the children of that fair France, who in 
your utmost need, and *' in the times that tried men's 
souls," gave you her heart, her hand and her 
purse, in such close alliance, and whose brave sol- 
diers, together with the great and the good Lafay- 
ette, were present at the consupmation, in fact, of 
the greatest revolution which the world has ever 
seen ? Shall the sons of the Shamrock and the "Em- 
erald Isle," who gave you their Montgomery to leati 
OU: as it were, your forlorn hopci and the bravest oC 



41 

tlie brave, to fill up the thia and scattering ranks of 
vour armies — who so long have '-sat down and 
wept" by the tombs of their niartyr'd patriots. — 
Captives and strangers in their native land, their 
harps unstrung & " hanging upon the willow s in the 
midst thereof," in their heaviness looking to an abid- 
ing place in this land of freedom, as a return from 
their captivity, where they might no longer be 
" Avasted," but sing again as in their land, the tri- 
umphant song of their deliverance and of their joys. 
Shall the thousands and tens of thousands of emi- 
grants, who annually come to your shores, and upon 
your own invitation too, bringing with them their 
mora! worth,theirkuowledge,theirarts, & their iiidus* 
try, sealing with their oaths, their devotionto freedom 
and their allegiance to this the country of their adop- 
tion. Shall they, gentlemen, in this pending con 
troversy between the North and the South, give you 
their best wishes and their warmest sympathies. 
Shall they enter into all your feelings, be elevated 
with your hopes, and be cast down with your fears, 
part.a"king with you of the same oppression with 
which you are oppressed, and yet be told, that there 
is still a DisTiNCTiOM between the native and adopt- 
ed citizen? I trust not, my fellow citizens. I trust 
that you will frown down with your honest and your 
utmost indignation, a distinction so odious ; and 
that your verdict will this night be recorded, that 
liad chance placed the birth place of Brutus^ not in 
Ixome, but in the Hebrides, yet, that having so 
long resided here in Rome, and preserving, as he 
hopes, the good name inherited by him from his 
Sire, and ready to transmit it to his sons, as unirn- 
paired as it was bequeathed to hnn; having all his 
property so invested in two States, that he must 
sink or sv/iin with the perilous ship of the <.Sow^A,fwith 
his parents, wifc,chiidren and relations,aIl sleeping in 
their original dust, within hearing distance of the 
voice that nightly cries the hour, from that watch 
tower ; Avith no earthly tie to bind him to any other, 
spot on earth than this sanie|Carolina. he, Brutus, 
who has never asked, from the tribunes or the peo- 
ple, an office or an honour, and who would receive 
none,excepiug such as your apj>lauses,so distinctly & 
so repeatedly expressed this evening,have conferred 
on him, has as an undoubted a right in law, and in 
reason, to give his opinion, and to be heard too, in a 
dispute purely Northern and Southern,.as anyone of 

4* 



you, who was born within the sound of St. MichaelV 
bell. If this be not your verdict, then indeed 

"Brutus had better be ^.villager, 
Than to repute himself a son of Rome, 
Under such hard conditions, as this timk 
Is likely to lay on him." 

Fellow Townsmen : — This is the proudest day of 
Hiy life : we can say, without a fear of contradiction, 
that there is assembled in this spacious and crowd- 
ed Hall, the intelligence, the patriotism, the virtue 
and the chivalry of Charleston. Characters there 
are here, from one of whom, at least, [pointing to 
Major Hamilton] we may expect all that patriotism 
and firmness can achieve in council ; and from oth- 
ers, [looking at the guests] all that honor and bra- 
very can accompli&h Ln the field. Good men and 
true, they and their distinguished associates, have 
come at the first bidding, to a festival, which in 
" thought, word and deed" is their country's festi- 
val. It is Carolina's festival, and if amongst those 
who have so absented themselves from, the plea- 
sures of this day, there are any who " cannot yi??/ 
and think with South Carolina, on the pt-incijjles p?o- 
mulgated by the Legislature,'''' these, which was the 
only test required for a seat at the table, let us hope, 
thjittho' as honest men, and good citizens, they now 
differ from us, yet, that sooner or later, they|\vill all 
kindly fall into tlie ranks of their countrymen,- and 
enter into those feelings which every son of the 
South ought to cherish, honor and revere as the 
best and the cheapest defence which we can make 
at this crisis, against the oppressions, which would 
make slaves of us all. 

Neither the time nor my own iiiclination, will per- 
mit me to enter into the fruitful topics ofyour riglits 
and your wrongs. These have been already noti- 
ced, witli an eloquence and a force such as has sel- 
dom been displayed any where. Never can yon for- 
get the spirit-stirring sentiments of the gentlemen 
who have preceded me, and the transcendent power 
of their appeals upon this assembly. 'i'he old as 
well as the young, yea the very dignitaries of the 
land, have been seen rising from their seats in ex- 
tacy to partakeof an enthusiasm, which leg/ars all 
description; which no love of order m yourselves, 
and no authority ofyour officers, has been sufbcient 
to restrain. Not a sentiment has been here uttered, 
vYith which the name of our dear Carolina is miu- 



43 

gied, that has not electrified these her patriotic 
sons. Like the lightning's vivid flash, it has scarce- 
ly been seen, that peal upon peal of the thunders of 
your applause have not instantly followed ; such 
thunders as would cause our oppressors, were they 
present, to quake and tremble with horror, and cry 
for mercy, and pray that the fire of this meeting 
might not be kindled into a fiame,and so spread as to 
consume them, with the wrath of an injured and in- 
dignant people. 

Persevere, then, in the work you have so glo- 
riously commenced. I ask of you fellow citizens, 
to take no counsel, hereafter, from fear, but from 
courage. If there are any, who believe, that this, 
their country, can be rescued from Ihe fell grasp of 
our inexorable tyrants by any thing short of that 
steady, undaunted and uncompromising spirit which 
distinguished your Laurens &. Gadsden, Pinckney's 
& Rulledge's, in the daik hour of the revolution, let 
them be told, once and for all, that they are as gross- 
ly deceived lijemselves, as they are fatally deceiv- 
ing others, ilistory, ancient and modern, does not 
furnisii a single example, in which a people so aw- 
y«% situated as we in South Carolina are at this 
moment, who were ever relieved from their perils,^ 
excepting by their united will, and their firm and 
unalterable determination to suffer no longer. The 
strength of the tyrant consists only in the fear of re- 
sisting him." The gentleman who preceded me, 
has nientioned Ireland. -Yes! there she is, and she 
speaks for herself. She was oppressed for centu- 
ries. Like you she raised her voice, but like you 
she raised that voice in vain, because it was stifled 
amidst the party feuds which distracted her. She 
wanted the united will to be free, and wanting that 
she would have struggled for centuries to come, 
liut no sooner did the imperial Parliament discover 
i bat the energies of the Irish, wace about to be con- 
centrated, and made to bear on a single point; and 
that their next movement, would be a simultaneous 
movement in every part of the country, than Eman- 
cipation instantly followed, and to their own astonish- 
ment, their hopes were more than realized. Their 
religious thraldom passed away from them as a 
summer's cloud, and sa will ours. In resources if 
not in population, South Carolina is not less impor- 
tant to the Union than Ireland is to the British Em- 
pire. Look again to Georgia — she has not once, but 
twice vanquished the General Government, and so 



44 

will it be with us. If we are but true to ourselves-^ 
you will soon see the moral effects of Unity of 
thought and design, upon the minds of those who 
now feel power and forg«t right." If you desire bet- 
ter feelings, and better friendship with yaur north- 
ern brethren, be firm. If you desire the government 
of the Union to be administered in the spirit in which 
it was formed, I tell you be tirm and fear not. If 
you want perpetual Union, be firm, yes be firm. 
There is no necessity for you to choose between 
"Liberty without Union," or "Union without Liber- 
ty." Your own fears wUl most assuredly give you 
the last, and you have, I am certain, no desire for 
the first. But the Constitution in its purity gives 
you both, Liberty as well as Union. The one is the 
end and the other the means. Under the blessing of 
God, sovereign States "joined them together," as 
man and wife, in holy wedlock. It is the spirit of 
usurpation, that spirit of darkness, which abides in 
our councils at Washington, that wotild "part them 
asunder." 

Fellow-citizens, let me conclude by sayinc, be- 
fore that maker and judge of all things who hears 
me, that it is my sincere belief, that if there were 
but o«e soul, o«e heart and mind, in Sout'a-Caroiina, 
on the subject of our dirferences with Congress, we 
might yet continue to live a happy people, and we 
*hould be rewarded by seeing the Union now so 
discordant, again harmonious, and one section al- 
ways hereafter disposed to respect the "authori- 
ties, rights, and liberties" appertaining to the others. 
But as it is not in mortals to see into the future ; and 
as it \s possible, (\ cannot think it probable.) that we 
may be mistaken, as to tiie effect which the firm- 
ness we recommend, may have on the issue of tlie 
present contest, it theii beiioves us, living as we do, 
amidst the proud memorials of the Revolution, to 
prepare for the worst, and to look boldly in the face, 
all the consequences, wli ether they be the conse- 
quences of danger, death or Disunion. 'IVemble 
not at the word Disunion, but rather tremble at an 
evil of still greater magnitude pointed out to you 
by Thomas .leflerson, and which evil, in his own 
word", is " a government practically without limita- 
tion of powers." If, my fellow-citizens, guided by 
the experience of our own revolution, and the gene- 
ral admonitions of history., which we must beiieve 
are designed to instruct and not to lead us astray. 
we shall commence thatstruggle for State sovereign- 



45 

ty, ill which alone our domestic tranquillity is to be 
found, and in that struggle shall call upon our brethe- 
ren South of the Potomac, but yet call upon them m 
vain ; if with no Southern sympathy,in other States, 
to cheer us onward in the hour of our trial, and no 
Southern arm to extend itself and to help and save 
us, we shall at last be doomed to have those cruel 
and galling chains, which now fret and torment us, 
the more strongly rivetted upon us and our children 
for ever— who is there, that feels and thinks as a 
Freeman, that would not rather perish with the li- 
berties of the South, than under disgraceful submis- 
sion, ive for years and years dishonored, and at last 
sink down and fill a coward's grave. Let me give 
the answer for you all— -There are none m this as- 
sembly, " NO NOT ONE." 

Mr. TurnbuU concluded with offering the follow- 
ing sentiment : 

" The Cause of the South— U has the Constitu- 
tion for its base, and Jefferson for its chief corner 
stone—" Truth has given it an establishment, ana 
Time will record it with a name as lasting as his 
own." 

Mr. MiNTZiNG, one of the Vice Presidents, here 
stated that he had been requested by the company 
in his quarter of the Room to present the following 

Toast : 
Henry L. Pinckney— The honest advocate of a 

good cause. 

The Toast was received with cheers— after which 
Mr. Pinckney addressed the Company, giving his 
opinion fully and plainly, of the interesting ques- 
tions at issue between the Southern States and the 
federal government- He stated his decided con- 
viction of the unconstitutionality and oppressive- 
ness of the Tariff— of the baseness and injustice of 
the Internal Improvement system, as it has for 
years been carried on -of the abject degradation to 
which both systems united had reduced the South— 
and of the absolute necessity of exercising vigor 
ously every constitutional measure for the restora- 
tion of our rights and the preservation of our pro 



46 

petty. He knew that there might possibly be some 
who differed with him either as to the precipe raea- 
«ure of redress, or as to the proper time for apply- 
ing and enforcing it, but he was sure that there 
was no individual in that assembly, who, w hen the 
State should assert its sovereignty, would not rally 
around her banner in perfect devotion to her rights, 
her interest, and her honor. To this sentiment ma- 
ny voices responded, " No, not one !" 

By R. Cunningham, Esq. Chairman of Commit- 
tee of Arrangements : The political integrity which 
looks only to duty, and is fearless of consequences. 

By the Hon. Henry Deas, one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents : The President of the United States — We 
recognize in his Veto, his determination to preserve 
the Federal Union. 

By John Gadsden, Esq. one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents : Virginia — South-Carolina having adopted 
herfaith, should not be unmindful of the prudent 
example of this great State. That course cannot 
be dishonorable which is sanctioned by this light of 
political wisdom, and parent of States. 

By Jacob F. Mintzing, Esq. one of the Vice-Pre- 
sidents : South-Carolina — Patience and forbear- 
ance have evinced her attachment to theUnion — May 
her sons (native and adopted) now unite, and by a 
" pull altogether," be relieved from that system of 
oppression which " takes from labor the bread it has 
earned," and " is an incubus on the bosom of So- 
ciety — paralyzing all the efforts of industry." 

By John Magrath, F'sq. one of the Coiomittee of 
Arrangements : The Memory of Gen. Washington — 
Like Cincinnatus of old, his country drew his ser- 
vices from the pleasures of rural life : Maj' the 
country of his protection differ from that of the Ro- 
man Patriot, in nothing, except a continued per- 
petuity. 

By Capt. Axson, one of the Committee of Ar- 
rangements : South-Carolina — She has reason to 
be proud of the part she took in the elevation of An- 
drew Jackson ; now that he has thrown himself in 
the breach, may she not desert him. 

By Capt. Van Rhyn, one of the Committee of Ar- 
rangements : That construction of the Constitution 
which " establishes justice, insures domestic tran- 
quillity, promotes the general welfare, and secures 



47 

thfe blessings of liberty to ourselves aud our pos- 
terity." 

By Capt. James Robertson, one of the Committee 
of Arrangements : A speedy relief from the last 
Tariff— Had its projectors been legislating for their 
country, and not for their immediate constituents, a 
monster so deformed and so baneful to all commerce, 
would never have been brought forth. 

By Capt. Charles Parker, one of the Committee 
of Arrangements : The rightful Commerce of the 
iSouth — Neither given by the General Government, 
nor to be taken away by it. 

By H. W. Perronneaa, one of the Committee. — 
The support of the Federal Government, in all its 
canstitutional powers : Resistance to all its usurpa- 
tions. 

By A. E. Rliller. Esq. one of the 'Committee. — 
'• State Rights" and all who maintain them. 

By J. Cessford Ker, Esq. one of the Committee. — 
Our distinguished Guests : We take delight in ho- 
noring them for their private virtues and public ser- 
vices. Their past efforts and (it is to be hoped) fu- 
ture endeavors, in asserting State Rights, will have 
a salutary effect in averting the dire consequences 
which the unconstitutional measures of an arbitrary 
majority in Congress are calculated to produce. 

By E. Bacon, Esq. one of the Committee. — The 
City of Charleston : May every unconstitutional ob- 
struction be speedily removed and its former activi- 
ty restored. 

By Judge E. H. Bay. — The spirit and principles 
of 98, which once saved our Constitution from the 
encroachments of the Federal Government. May 
they again preserve that sacred charter from des- 
truction at the present day of peril, and restore it to 
its primeval splendour. 

By Judge Prioleau : The preservation of the 
1 'nion.-The warmest wish of the patriot's heart — de- 
pfr.iding on the preservation of the rights of the 
States, it can only be accomplished by a firm resis- 
tance to unconstitutional laws. 

By Mr. McBeth : The Modern Brutus— The prin- 
ciples of his " Crisis" — one bright weapon snatched 
from the armory of truth ; God grant it may pierce 
to the heart ofour tyrant. 

By VV. B. Seabrook, Esq. of Edisto Island : South 
('arolina — When she ceases to resist the aggressions 
on her sovereignty, may the deeds of her patriots b^- 
[»lotted jrom the annals of historv. 



48 

ByRobt. J. Turnbull, Esq. Vice President : Our 
adopted fellow citizen, Dr. Thos. Cooper. — Let those 
who quarrel with bis labours in the cause of consti- 
tutional freedom, because he was a foreigner^ go and 
write their libels on the tomb of Montgomery. 

By C. C. Pinckney, Esq. : The President's Veto 
— It has done all he can do for the South ; the rest 
the South must do for herself. 

By Mr. James Cuthbert : South Carolina — Sen- 
aibleof her wrongs, she should never hesitate to re- 
dress them : maj false fears, like false shame, em- 
barrass those only who entertain them. 

By Mr. Hugh Rose : Unanimity in defence of our 
rights, and a zealous support of Constitutional Laws 

By John Townsend, Esq. from St. Johns, Colle- 
ton : President Jackson — His manly and indepen- 
dent conduct on the Maysville and Lexington Road 
Bill, has exalted him still higher, if possible, in the 
estimation of all honorable minds, and endeared him 
to the heart of every true lover ofthe Constitution. 
To him we would say, go on still faithful public ser- 
vant 

" Bejnst and fear not, 

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 

Thy God'^ and truth's : Then if thou fail'st,j 

Thou fail'st a blessed martyr." 

By D. J. Waring, Esq: The Fruits ofthe Ameri- 
can Revolution — Would that they were still the bles- 
sings ofthe American family — " Liberty, the Con- 
stitution, Union ;" these three, but the greatest of 
these is Liberty. 

By Mr. Joseph D. Cheves : May talking politi- 
cians not forget that the three great requisites of 
Oratory are action, nction, action. 

By i\lr. Wm. McElmoyle : The State Rights Par- 
ty in the East, West, North and South — May their 
eflbrts to perpetuate the Federal Union, which must 
be supported, never be relaxed until every uncon- 
stitutional act shall be repealed. 

After Judge Bay had retired, John B. Irving, 
Esq. pi"oposed — 

The Hon. Elihu II. Bay— The well-tried, " good 
and faithful servant" ! The learned Judge ! The 
venerable Christian ! How grateful it is to know and 
to feef, that our princ'ple» are approved by one so 
competent to decide upon them ! 

By Mr. T. H. Robinson: Our Members of Con- 
gress from this State — They have met the Avishes 



49 

of their constituents, and by their vvtsdom have pre- 
served the dignified standing of South-Carolina. 

By Mr. John Holland : The enlightened minori- 
ty of the late Congress, and destruction to the sys- 
t«tn of concentrated power, beyond Naval protec- 
tion. 

By S. Elliott, Esq. : Our Cause— Not the paltriest 
advantage can be obtained over it, without attack- 
ing some of those principles or deriding some of 
those feelings for which our ancestors have shed 
their hlood— Burke. 

By H. S. Legare, Esq. : Andrew Jackson — We 
know by our experience in war— we believe from our 
experience in peace — that, under his auspices, tt-e 
have no right to despair of the Republic. 

By Mr. Abraham Miller : Truth and the force of 
public opinion triumphant over physical strength 
and numbers. 

By Mr. Henry Goldsmith : South-Carolina— She 
nobly dared opposition to British tyranny ; and her 
same sons, nerved by the same spirit, and possess- 
ing the same pride, will not now shrink from main- 
taining their rights against American imposition. 

By Mr. I. E. Holmes : A glorious struggle for 
State Rights — with all its dangers and difficulties, ra- 
ther than a quiet submission to servitude with all 
its safety and tranquillity. 

By Mr. Henry J. Harby : Messrs. Hayne and 
Drayton — May your oppressed Country profit by 
your talents, and your memory shall be erab aimed 
in the praises of posterity. 

By Mr. P. Cantwell : Liberty and Equality — Li- 
herty, secured by the institutions of a great and uni- 
ted Republic. Equality, which knows of no orders 
or privileges or distinctions but those created by 
our glorious Constitution - by virtue, or by talents. 

By Mr. I. D. Mordecai : Carolina — Should she be 
assailed, may the hour of danger find her equal to 
the crisis. 

By Mr. James L. Peigne ; Our two able State 
Right Representatives to Congress, Major General 
Hayne and Col. Drayton — May the gratitude of your 
fellow-citizens who surround you this day, rouse 
the slumbering sensibility of the nation. 

By Mr. S. Perry : The Advocates of State Rights 
— The genuine friends to the perpetuity of the U- 
nion. 

By Mr. T. Middleton : Free Trade— The widest 
"Uid least artificial canal to national ijrosperity. 
b 



50 

By Major E. H. Edwards: " Our Constitutional 
Rights — May we have the wisdom to discern, and 
the courage to defend them." 

By Mr. S. L. Levy : The Genius of Liberty— Our 
fathers reared her Temple and cemented it with 
their best blood ; let their sons preserve it uudefiled. 

By Mr. H. A. Desaussure : The United t^tates -~'^ 
One and inseparable ; Disunion their only irrepara- 
ble evil. 

By Mr. Skirving Smith: Southern suffering and 
Northern commiseration, alias the Carolina ass 
overbiirthened with yankee notimis. 

By Mf. W. M. Frazer : South-Carolina — Admired 
every where for her hospitality and her love of li- 
berty ; she never will be enslaved by any Northern 
monopolists. 

By Mr. Thomas Duggan : Champagne to our real 
friends and real pain to our sham friends. 

By Mr. T. P. Harvey : South-Carolina- Her sons 
are conscious of her rights, and will die in her de- 
fence. 

By Mr. G. Robertson : When called upon, may 
our lamps be trimmed and burning. 

By Mr. John Crawford : South-Carolina — Whilst 
contending for her rights as a sovereign State, may 
the bitterness of party spirit give way to the more 
noble and manly feeling of patriotism ; and may the 
sole aim of every Carolinian be, who shall do most to 
support the honor and dignity of the State. 

By the Rev. J. F. Oneill : 31 ay the Stars of our 
Union happily blend into one great and glowing con-- 
stellation, diverging its radiance to other nations, 
in whose horizon the sua of freedom has not yet ap- 
peared. 

ByMr. W. F. Redding: Our Nnlional Standard- 
Long may it wave iu ils present unsullied Glory, — 
The (error of i'yruats aiid the proud boast of Free- 
men. 

By Mr. Charles V. Neyle: Ihe State of South 
Caroiiua — May I never live to see her submit to 
INorthern usurpation. 

By :Mr. Benj. l.eefti : Libt^rty gaiueJ with the blood 
of i>ur ance.-tors, and bequeathed by them to us as 
the richest blessing v\ecan eiij /y. 

ByE. l5eatty: Egieinont, a town in Merrie England, 
ihe birth place of ■ 'aroliua's cherished iWecbaaic. 

By Robert Rowaiad : The first office of the United 
States; may it never be filled but by the wise, the 
brave and virtuous. 



51 



By J. (t. Frier: IMny every f^'arolinian who backs 
one inch be down six feet. 

Hy IMr. Wm.Gray : South CaroliQa and the Ta- 
riff — I'he former n»ust be freed from the latler, 
peaceably if she can, or by an appeal to arras if sbe 
must. 

By Vlr. Thontias West : One of the brightest or- 
naments that decorate the United States, manufac- 
tured in South Carolina — \ndrew Jackson. 

I5y W. J. Ramsav : Dr. Ihos. Cooper — the able 
advocate of State Rights. 

By Mr. A. J. Kennedy: Our wrongs redressed— 
Our Union preserved. 

By Mr. James Ferguson : The Hon. Robert W. 
Barnwell — The talented, eloquent and chivalric de» 
fender of State Rights. In honoring him, our fel- 
low-citizens of Colleton and Beaufort do honor to 
themselves and to Carolina. 

By Mr. Edward C. Peronneau: The Union, with 
impartial legislation and equality of taxation, or a 
Republic South of the Potomac. 

By W. P. Finley : 
"Liberty of the tongue — Liberty of the press — 
Liberty of the conscience — Liberty of the hand,''^ 

By Mr. John J. Alexander: The voice of our fa- 
thers in '76 — It tells us that resistance to oppression 
was a virtue; <feey triumph'd, and left «s the legacy 
of their bright example. 

By Mr. Lewis Cruger : The President's Veto— It 
has daunted for a moment our ruthless oppressors, 
and scared them from their foul feast of avarice, but 
let us not be deluded into the belief that it has effec- 
tually driven them from their prey, or will restrain 
them from returning with unglutted and insatiate 
appetites. 

By Mr. Philip Cohen : The friends of the American 
system and the Colonization Society — In the lan- 
guage of Rolla "they offer us their protection" — 
Yes! such protection as vultures give to lambs. 

By Mr. Wm. McWhinnie : The talent of South- 
Carolina — Ably and brilliantly displayed in its repre- 
sentatives to the Congress of these United States. 

By Mr. J. L.Nowell : South-Carolina — Wet chosen 
sons have declared her wrongs. Her Jaiihful sons 
will maintain her rights. 

By Mr. Benj. R. Smith : State Rights— In fear- 
lessly and firmly maintaining them, we will preserve 
the liberty of our native State, and the Constitution 
of our common country. 



By Mr. N. H. Rntledge : The statesmen of vSoiith« 
Carolina — May their veneration for our patriotic 
forefathers operate as a magic ring ou their politi- 
cal conduct. 

By Col. T. O. Elliott : In this crisis let every citi- 
zen be true to this State, nor be misled by the base 
motives of personal or party advancement. 

By iV.r. T. H. S. Thayer; Our Northern Brethren 
— Wisdom to see their errors, and magnanimity to 
retract them. 

By Col. L. Morris : Unanimity to the sons of the 
South — iViay reason and not passion be their "watch- 
word. 

By a Subsci'iber : The Fair Sex — Too generally 
the advocates of Union to favor a single State. 

By Mr. M. C. Mordecai: May wise and prudent 
measures not only be continued, but supported 
strictly, by every true friend of Carolina, until the 
Hydra destroys itself or a second Hercules arises to 
crush it. 

By J. Heilbron : Northern Leeches — They have 
long fed ujjon our vitals ; Southern Sugar-of-lead 
will disgorge them. 

By Mr. E. Horry : The union of the States — Pre- 
served by the Federal Constitution in its original 
purity, and unalloyed by Consti uctions, which must 
tend to destroy the rights of the individual States, 
their agricultural interests, and their commerce 
with foreign nations. 

By J . D. Emanuel : May ovr next Legislature con- 
.rince our Northern brethren, that South-Carolina 
will never consent to be treated as " a sick child." 

By Mr. Wm. B. Pringle— The Constitution— It is 
our birthright — Who is there that would yield his 
inheritance without a struggle. 

By Mr. Wm. W. Smith : Devotion to the Consti- 
tution : Integrity of purpose — these being the stand- 
ards of belief, who would not exultingly stand and 
act by them ? 

By H. W. Peronneau, Esq. : (one of the Commit- 
tee) The memory of Dr. John Ra^lsay, late Senator 
from St. Pauls — Among the most zealous and fear- 
less of the defenders of State Rights. 

By Capt. Wesner : Carolina Doctrines — Enforced 
by Carolina principles—*' Millions for defence, not 
a cent for Tribute." 

By Dr. J. W. Siraonds : The South-Carolina Rail 
Road-^A laudable State Right — by the entf rprize 
of individuals, it will succeed, without the aid of 



53 

the General Government— May it prove lucrative 
to Stockholders and beiie'lcial to the State. 

ByMaj.J. Hamilton, J uu. : John Kaud. !ph of Ro- 
anoke — The most brilliant diamond among the gems 
of the Old Dominion ; should the South be destiued 
to walk through trial and darkness, he will be near 
her, and the darker it grows, the more he will spar- 
kle. 

By Mr. R. S. Wish: The 1st of July, 1830— 
The second declaration of the Independence of S. 
Carolina — " Free Trade and State Rights." 

By Mr. G. Jenkins: South-Carohna-May she 
firmly maintain those Riglits which were guaran- 
teed to her by the Constitution. 

By Mr. John Bryan : " Millions for defence— not 
a cent for Tribute"— May the feelings which ani- 
mated Carolina's distinguished son in making this 
reply to foreign exaction^ find a response in the bo- 
som of every citizen of South-Carolina in resisting 
domestic oppression. 

By Mr. Alexander Mazyck : The Federal Go- 
vernment — Let it not be perverted to destroy that 
Union which it was designed to preserve. 

By Mr. John Townsend, of St. John's, Colleton : 
The meritorious Editor of the Charleston Mercury— 
(the only press in our city which has from the begin- 
ning, ably and fearlessly fought the battles of the 
South, and vindicated the rights of an injured and 
insulted people.) 

Though a foul faction may rage against him, the^' 
planters of the Stale will be more just, and appre- 
ciate, as they deserve, his valuable services. 

By Mr. A. Strayne : A distinguished citizen of 
Massachusetts— Dr. Channing, whose able^ exposi- 
tion of the principles of free trade, are as unanswer- 
able as his talents are transcendent. 

By Mr. John Izard Middleton, jr. : The Restric- 
tive System, misnamed ' American'— Its object to 
make laws to assist money making, that a monied 
aristocracy may give law to the people: its mea- 
sures the pollution of the fountain head of derivative 
power ; the depravation and deception of the peo- 
ple. 

By Mr. J. W. Hayne, of Columbia : Constitution- 
al checks upon Power— Until the veto of her tribunes, 
Rome derived no profit from the expulsion of her 
Kings. ^ . „ 

By Thomas Gadsden, Esq. : The American Sys. 
%em— One of bounties and prohibitions by which 



54 

contributions are exacted from one portion of the 
Ui.it)n, and besto.ved as gratuities on another. 

By D. Dawson : i'he fState of South Carolina — 
Heaven guide our bark, for we are now among the 
breakers. 

By a Subscriber— The Port of Charleston — May 
her commerce soon return as it was in 1816; have 
her oum merchants, and not Northern agents. 

By Mr. Alexaa-ler Ballund : Our National Rulers 
— May they study the science of Government, and 
not the arts of popularity. 

By Mr. James G. Holmes: The Key-stone in the 
arch of our Reserved Rights, the right to judge of 
their infraction. 

By Mr. Hugh McDonald : The three greatest a- 
chievements of Andrew Jackson —The preservation 
of the Republic at New-Orleans, the rejection of the 
Maysville Road Bill, and his patriotic declaration 
that the Union must and shall be sustained. 

By Mr. A. Tooraer : The State of South Carolina 
and the General Government — Remonstrances have 
not been respected, but actions will or must ! 

By Mr. Thos. Cousins : Our Senators, and Re- 
presentatives in Congress — Their able, eloquent, 
and independent vindication of the rights and feel- 
ings of the South, entitle thera to the gratitude 
and support of their constituents. 

By Mr. Jno. M'Cormick: The Union of the 
States — An invaluable legacy from our ances'ors. 
Jilay it be perpetual, and may every attempt to dis- 
sever them meet the frowns of an indignant people. 

By Mr. H.Paxton : < "harleston — The restoration 
of its commerce nnd trade, and a return of pros- 
perity to its citizei'S. 

By l>r. De l^a Motta : When freemen meet to 
honor the services of statesmen, may thev never 
forget the late Pride of Caroling — The lamented 
William Lowndes. 

By MaJ!>r Manigault: The memory of General 
Washington. 

By Vir. Alexander Thompson Spring: The ma- 
gic power of free trade — I'be A rehimedes which 
raised this country, and the Atlas which supportsjit. 

By Mr. B. Foster : I'he principles of South Car- 
olina — Chey can never be wrong when sustained 
by thedescendnuts of the Revolution. 

By iVJr. Joseph Turnbull : The South Carolina 
delegation to Congress — Firm and united in their 



55 

efforts, zealous and undaunted in their determina- 
tion in opposing an unequal and unjust law Ci'leula- 
ted to depress our industry, depreciate our proper- 
ty, destroy our commerce with foreign nations, fi- 
nally end in the ruin of the Southern States, the 
most valuable and productive parts of the continent 

Ey Mr. John Robertson: The city of Charleston 
— A commerce with all nations unshackled by 
inordinate restriction, it aggrandizes the interest 
of the State, and gives energy and employment to 
all its citizens;. 

By Mr. VV. R. Bee: South Carolina, right or 
wrong — Wrong has she been so long submitting ; 
right will she nou be in promptly acting. 

By Mr. L. Wilson: The Tariflfof 1828— A bloton 
our prosperity which can only beeftaced by nullifi- 
cation. 

By Mr. J. M. Bee : Truth — Howeverfalse notions 
upon the subject of government, as upon all sub- 
jects, may f >r a time prevail, among free in&titu- 
tir)n>-, truth will uHmately triumph. 

'Tireat is the majesty of Truth." 

By Mr. Guynemer : The French population of the 
South — They will prove themselves either in peace 
or war worthy ot their adopted country. 

By Mr. J. 1) Marks: i he Constitution— M.iy the 
hand that endeavours to impair it, he palsied in the 
attempt. 

By Mr. Richard S. Wish : The Charleston dele- 
gation to our next Legislature— Like that of '76, 
may experience be the corner-stone of its wisdom, 
and patriotism adorn its work. 

By Benjamin Elliott, Esq.: Judge Huger— A man 
and a name identified with every thing Carolinian. 

By Mr. Beuj. A. Markley : The American Repub- 
lic—humanity's last hope. The mercenary legisla- 
tors, who pervert its constitution to sordid purposes, 
and thereby endanger its existence, are the enemies 
of mankind. 

By Mr. Isaac Emanuel : Gen. R. Y. Hayne, our 
Senator in Congress : May he stand as firm in the 
field of battle as he stood in Congress in defending 
the rights of the State of South-Carolina. 

By Mr. E. Morris : The Tariffites— Say is there 
not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the 
stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast 
the men who owe their riches to their country's ruin. 

By Mr. Knepley : General Andrew Jackson -May 
his administration continue to be conducted m 



56 

righteousnesg, and prove eminently prejudicial to 
the enemies of our glorious Union. 

By Mr. R. W. Seymour : May the interest of our 
common Couutry, be strengthened by the perpetui- 
ty of the Union. 

By ;VIr. Dawson: The Union — May it be pre- 
served so long as comr.atible with State Rights, and 
the honor of our Confederacy. 

By Mr. Robert Wm. Roper : The Constitution of 
the United States — May a clear construction of its 
meaning and intent be established in General Con- 
vention. We will there acquire a knowledge of the 
National feeling, andleam whether our rights can be 
established by argument and justice; or whether 
they must be preserved by secession or the last ap- 
peal of Nations. 

By Dr. Holmes Matthews : The Colonization So- 
ciety — May their next President be an African King. 

By Mr. Martin Roddy : Richard Shiel — Who with 
no weapons but justice and eloquence, gave a bill of 
rights to bis country. 

By Mr. Charles E. Miller; South-Carolina's Sony, 
native and adopted — The crisis has arrived when 
your arms as well as your ro/ces are required to pro- 
tect the State from a rapacious and unprincipled 
majority, and to restore the Constitution to its ori- 
ginal meanina: and intention. 

By Mr. W. Blacklock : South-Carolina— Caroli- 
nians from bondage will deliver Carolina. 

The greatest enthusiasm prevailed throughout the 
day. A large number ofthe toasts, (particularly 
those ofthe most decided State Right character,) 
were drank with deafening and repeated plaudits. 
The company remained together until Iate,wli«n they 
separated, with hearts full of devotion to the great 
principles which thc> had assembled to honor 
and affirm. It is to be hoped that this exhibition of 
''Public Opinion" will lead to reflection in the North, 
and to imitation in the South. Let the people of 
every Southern City do as Charleston has done — 
express their opinions and their feelings openly and 
fearlessly — and then there can be no doubt that our 
grievances will be redressed hy a bloodless revolu- 
tion. 



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